The Irish Ocean
by tnla
Summary: Modern AU: Emma Swan decides to start a new life far away from New York and her past. She decides to take a plane to the first place that catches her eye: Dublin, Ireland. Rated T right now for some swearing, may or may not go up later.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So this is the first FF I've written, and if it's super terrible, feel free to let me know!**

* * *

Emma Swan looked up at the departure board and sighed. She was running away again. She chuckled darkly to herself before remembering that if there's nothing left to run away from, it's not really running away. She was leaving. Leaving her past behind, her memories and her crushed dreams. She scanned down until she saw a name caught her eye.

Dublin.

As she reached the ticket counter, she set her old green canvas bag with just about all of her worldly possessions down on the ground. She reached into the small black bag slung over her shoulder and pulled out her wallet.

"One ticket to Dublin please."

"One way?"

Emma nodded silently. The woman behind the counter smiled and started typing on the keyboard in front of her. "Did you want the 4:30 flight?"

Emma nodded again and began to pull out her passport, she handed her driver's license along with the passport over to the woman before she could ask for them. She took them from Emma and looked over them carefully before turning to her computer to enter the information on the ticket. Emma smiled as she took them back and placed them back in her bag.

"That'll be 1,562.37."

Emma slowly pulled out the small roll of cash she had tucked into a small pocket of her bag. It was everything she had, and buying this ticket would seal her fate, at least for a while. She shook her head to try and rid the anxiety that was balled up inside her and began to unroll the cash, pulling out 16 hundred-dollar bills, and tucking the remaining 9 back in her bag safely. The woman smiled once more and handed her the change as well as her ticket. "You'll be checking this bag?" She gestured to the green canvas bag that was still propped against the desk.

"Yeah, it's free for international flights, right?"

The woman nodded and pulled it onto the scale before wrapping an identification sticker around the handle. "The terminal you'll be leaving from can be accessed through the security down this hallway and to the right."

Emma gave her a weak smile and muttered a quick thanks before ducking out of the line and heading for security.

The flight was uneventful, Emma slept through most of it, the fatigue of the past few days finally catching up with her. She awoke with a jolt as she heard the pilot addressing the cabin, "Alright folks, I hope you had a wonderful flight, we're beginning our final descent into Dublin now. Please fasten your seat belts and we'll be arriving very shortly."

Emma glanced out the window and her breath hitched. She'd never seen anything so incredibly green and beautiful. She'd grown up alternating from bad foster homes to the streets of New York. She'd never really lived anywhere other than a large urban city. The hills that rolled behind Dublin glowed in the setting sun, the lights of the city was beginning to illuminate the beautiful buildings. The river that ran through the city and stretched toward the ocean was brightened by streetlights set alongside it, and it glowed with a magical luster.

They landed 15 minutes later, and she was collecting her bag from the baggage claim when her decision hit her. She had left. Granted there wasn't much back in New York, but there was familiarity, comfort. She turned toward the exit and began to make her way outside. The sun had set now and night was beginning to fall. She looked around and internally cursed herself. _Fuck it all; this was the worst idea I could have come up with. I don't know anybody here. I don't even know where anything is._ Her internal berating came to a halt as a small old man leaning against a taxi called over to her. "Need a ride lass?"

She glanced up before walking over to him. "You wouldn't happen to know a place I could get a room for the night?"

He looked her over before responding, "How nice you looking for love?"

She self-consciously pulled at her ratty sweatshirt before grumbling, "As long as it has a bed."

He chuckled before responding, "Are you from America?"

"What gave it away, my accent?" She muttered impatiently, pulling at her sleeve. She wasn't very interested in having a long conversation; she just wanted to find a place for the night.

"Actually lass, it was your charming personality. All you American's are always so cheerful."

Emma glared at him before reaching for the bag she had set at her feet, "Well here's the thing. I've been on a plane for 8 hours, I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I don't know where the fuck anything is. I just want to find a room and crash for a little."

The man laughed at this. He laughed. Emma was beyond irritated now, she grabbed the bag and slung it across her back when she heard him say, "Alright lass, I'm sorry, I was just messin' with you. I'll drive you to someplace you can rent out for the night."

Emma eyed him warily before pulling her canvas bag off her back and putting it in the back seat. The man climbed in the car and turned to her, "So, what are you doing in Dublin? Since you obviously never been here before or know anyone living here."

Emma glared at him again, "How do you know I don't know anyone here?"

"Well, normally, if you're meeting someone in a foreign city they would have the courtesy to come an' get you from the airport. At least that's how we do things in Ireland." He grinned back at her and she scoffed, turning her head to look out the window without responding. She watched the buildings race past her as they drove for a couple more minutes in silence. The buildings began to slow until they were stopped in front of an old brick building that was a couple of stories tall. The corner of the building had dark red wood paneling that reached to the top of the first floor, there were tall windows that lit up the cozy pub that lay beyond them. The gold and black lettering on the windows read "MacTavish". She pulled her bag out of the back before handing 50 euros, not quite sure of the conversion rate. The man at the customs desk had told her when he changed her money out for euros, but she'd forgotten. The wiry old man chuckled before handing her back 20, "Will you be alright lass?"

Emma nodded and gave him a small smile before turning to the door. She pushed it open and was greeted to the sound of drunken voices, laughter and the clatter of dishes. She turned to the counter and the plump old woman behind it, "Excuse me, could I rent a room for the night?"

The woman smiled, "Of course, love, I'll get you the keys". She rummaged around under the counter for a few seconds before straightening up and handing a large skeleton key over to Emma. "It's just up the stairs, the third door on the right, once you're settled in, come on down for some food." Emma thanked her before climbing the stairs and unlocking the large wooden door. She glanced around the modest room before setting her bag on the desk and sitting down on the bed. She laid back and turned her head to the large window on the wall. The ocean moved slowly in the distance, the moon reflecting on the gentle waves. She'd seen the ocean so many times when she lived in New York, but there was something special about this ocean. This ocean seemed peaceful and calm yet wild and untamed all at the same time. Emma shook her head, smiling at her wandering mind. She sat back up and reached for her bag. She reached in and rummaged around until she found a thin black cotton shirt. She took off the ratty sweatshirt and pulled the black cotton over her camisole. She pulled her long blond hair out of the messy ponytail and combed through it with her fingers. Glancing at the mirror and sighing, she turned to the door. There really wasn't anyone to impress, so she left her face undone and climbed back down the stairs. She heard the sound of the pub growing until she stepped back onto the first floor and was greeted with a dull roar of noise. She walked back over to the bar and grabbed an empty stool. The plump old woman strode over to her, "What'll be love?"

Emma looked down at the menu that had been lying on the counter, "I'll have a beer on tap and a burger please." She placed the menu back on the counter and looked up at the old woman who was getting her beer.

"Here you are love, I'll go put in your order." Emma smiled gratefully and watched as the woman walked through a swinging door into the back kitchen; hunger suddenly took over and her stomach growled loudly. She began sipping the beer, surprised at how delicious it was and glanced around the bar. The walls were lined with liquor bottles and old pictures and posters. The woman emerged from the kitchen and walked back over to Emma, "It should be right out love."

Emma smiled again and gestured to her beer, "Thanks, what's this? It's _really_ good."

The woman laughed heartily, "Aye, it's delicious. It's a local brewery company, they only supply the best bars." She winked and grinned down at Emma. Emma chuckled softly and continued to examine the pub.

"So, what're you doing in Dublin? Sight seeing, visiting friends?"

Emma smiled weakly, "Just trying something new. Something different."

The woman smiled at her softly, "I know that look. You're running away from something, I've seen that too many times to ignore it."

Emma glanced down at her glass before answering, "Yeah, I guess I probably am. Not that there is anything left to run away from."

"So what's your plan then love? Are you going to stay in Dublin or keep moving through the country?"

Emma wasn't even sure what she was going to do tomorrow morning, let alone the next couple of weeks. She looked up and admitted, "I'm not really sure, I should probably find someplace to work, there's no way that I'm getting by for longer than a couple weeks with what I have now."

"Tell you what love, you can stay here and work for a couple weeks while you figure it out. My granddaughter isn't coming back until May when her school gets out, and I could use the help."

Emma looked up, surprise apparent on her face. "You don't even know me. How do you know I'll be any good?"

The woman smiled warmly, "You seem lost lass, and the least I can do is give you a place until you find the direction you're heading."

"Alright, but if I'm shit at the job, just remember you said that."

The woman grinned at that, "I promise. What's your name?"

"Emma, Emma Swan."

"Nice to meet you Emma Swan, everyone around here calls me Granny."

A bell rang in the back room and Granny turned away, "I'll bet that's your food. I'll be back in a sec."

Emma looked down into her glass at the last sip of beer before raising it to her lips and finishing it. She smiled slightly at the warmth and kindness that Granny had shown her. Not many people had been that kind to Emma in her life. Seconds later, the woman came through the kitchen door holding a large platter with a thick juicy burger on top. Emma's stomach growled once again in response to the enticing smell that was wafting towards her. Granny set in front of her before reaching for her glass and filling it once more. The burger was beyond amazing, Emma wasn't quite sure if it was from the lack of food she'd consumed over the past 48 hours or if the burger really was that delicious. She gave up contemplating and just sat in enjoyment as she ate. After finishing her second glass of the dark beer that Granny had offered her, she turned to head upstairs bidding Granny goodnight.

The next morning Emma awoke in a strange bed, her groggy mind reaching for an explanation. As she started to sit up, she remembered the previous night and jumped out of bed. After a quick shower, she pulled on a pair of dark skinny jeans and a white camisole. She laced up her boots and turned to the mirror, combing through the tangle of her hair. She pulled on her boots, lacing them up and grabbed her leather jacket before heading downstairs. Granny was walking through the deserted pub, straightening chairs and wiping down the tables. Emma walked over to her, dodging a pile of what she hoped was spilled stew on the wooden floor. Granny looked up and smiled, "Ah, morning lass. You still on for working?"

Emma nodded and swallowed the nervous lump in her throat. She'd never actually held a real job before, instead moving from city to city, stealing cars and robbing convenience stores. Granny smiled reassuringly at her and handed her the rag. "Just wipe down the rest of the tables, I'll get one of the boys to clean up that mess later this morning." She motioned to the small pile Emma had stepped over earlier. "After everything is cleaned up for lunch you can head out and see Dublin if you like, I have enough lunch help, just be back by four so you can help with the dinner shift."

Emma smiled and continued to wipe down the tables, moving methodically across the room until they were all finished. After she finished she grabbed the leather jacket that had been hanging on a chair and exited the pub. Dublin at night had been beautiful and peaceful, but Dublin during the day was alive. It felt so much different from New York, while New York always felt comforting to her; it was still cold and lonely at times. Dublin felt warm and inviting, she moved down the streets looking up at all of the buildings she passed, moving through the city watching the people move through their daily lives. She continued walking until she was at rocky beach looking over the ocean. She glanced down at the large watch on her wrist; it was a quarter to one. She moved down onto the rocks and began climbing over them, moving farther and farther out into the ocean until she was at the dark jagged edge. She stood for what felt like forever, watching the water continually move, enticing her. She was transfixed by the sound of the waves and the color of the ocean. She glanced back down at her watch and saw the time: 2:30. She wasn't sure how easy it would be to navigate back through the streets and decided she should start trying to find her way back to MacTavish. As she turned to make her way back, her boot slipped on the slick rock beneath her. Before she even knew what was happening she was falling backwards, her hands reached up to grab onto something but found only air. The cold water hit her like a brick of ice as she fell into it, her head crashing back onto something hard, giving a sickening crunch as she moved her arms furiously, trying to find air. She fought to get back to the surface and blackness started to cloud her vision.

Something strong wrapped around her wrist and she felt cool air hit her face moments later. Sucking in oxygen, she looked around still thrashing wildly as a pair of sharp blue eyes meet hers. "Oi! Calm down love or we'll both be back in the water!"

The sound of an accented voice brought her back to reality. She stopped moving and looked up at the stranger who had pulled her out of the water. He was undeniably handsome. His hair was black and fell across his forehead, his eyes were a piercing blue, so incredibly similar to the ocean she had just been pulled from, and there was a small scar reached across his cheek. He was also very wet. She shook her head, trying to focus on what had happened and realized that he had jumped in and pulled her out. "You alright love?"

"Um, yeah I think so. Thanks, I guess." She mumbled the last part, unwilling to meet his eyes. He began walking along the rocky edge pushing her in front of him, a protective hand on her shoulder. They reached the road that had led to the small beach. "We should really get your head checked out, there's some blood turning your pretty blonde hair all red."

She reached up and felt a large gash on the back of her head at the base of her skull; she pulled her hand in front of her face and saw blood covering her fingertips. "Yeah, I'll get it fixed later, I really need to get going."

He stopped, pulling her shoulder so she spun around to face him, "You're not going anywhere love, there's blood pouring out of your head and your hands and arms are covered in scrapes. You need to see a doctor."

She glared up at him, "I don't _need _to do anything. Thanks for saving me or whatever but I'm _fine_." She turned around again and stomped away, irritated. She moved back up the streets, trying to remember the way back to the pub, and miraculously found it in a short amount of time. She glanced down at her watch only to realize that it had broken in the water. Sighing, she entered the pub, which had only a few customers left over from lunch. The clock on the back wall read 3:15 and she turned to go upstairs and change.

"What in the bloody hell happened to you?"

Emma grimaced as she heard Granny's voice calling over to her. "Nothing, I just, fell," she ended lamely. Granny looked her up and down and gave her a look that told Emma she wasn't having any of it.

She felt her cheeks begin to glow in embarrassment, "I was standing on a rock and I kind of slipped and fell into the ocean."

"You look a little bit more than just wet love."

"Well I also kind of hit my head and scraped my arms a little," she finished sheepishly.

"Oh for the love of God, I just hire you and you almost kill yourself. I'd be very irritated if I had to go find a new waitress lass." She sighed, "Alright, go clean up then and get down here whenever you're done." She gave Emma a small smile before turning to bark orders at one of the boys clearing the tables.

Emma walked upstairs quickly before stripping and stepping into the shower. The warm water stung as it hit her arms and head, but she scrubbed the cuts gently and washed her hair even more cautiously. She stepped out and pulled on a pair of blue skinny jeans and a long black shirt, covering the large angry gashes on her arm. She patted the back of her head; it had stopped bleeding, but was beginning to ache horribly. She walked downstairs at 5 til 4:00 and looked around for Granny. She was stacking menus at the bar while talking animatedly to one of the bus boys. She looked up as Emma walked over and looked her up and down, "Are you okay then lass?"

Emma nodded, her cheeks beginning to flame at the embarrassment of the situation.

"Alright then, you ready for tonight? It shouldn't be too bad since it's Sunday, but you never know."

Emma nodded and began tugging at her sleeve again.

Granny looked over at her, "Alright love, it won't be too bad tonight, I'll only give you a few tables and if you need anything I'll be right here."

Emma smiled weakly and nodded.

As the dinner crowd began to trickle in, Emma took orders, carried food, refilled drinks and talked with customers. Granny had been right, the night was slow, and there were enough breaks to allow Emma to collect herself before diving back in. Around 11 the crowds began to disperse, only a few lonely patrons were left. Emma cleared the last table of dishes and then sank onto a stool, resting her throbbing head on the counter. Granny set down a large beer next to her and Emma lifted her head slightly, "Oh, do you have some painkillers to go with this? My head is a mess right now."

Granny smiled before returning with aspirin. She placed three in Emma's hand and she swallowed them with a large gulp of cold beer. She looked over at Granny who smiled, "you did really good tonight love. And look at all the tips you made, the customers really like you." Emma returned the smile and stepped off the barstool, pouring the remaining beer down her throat before turning to the staircase. "I'll see you tomorrow Granny, I really need some sleep."

As soon as she stepped in her room, she kicked off her boots and crawled into her bed, not even taking the time to change out of her clothes. Her eyes fluttered closed and she was out in a matter of seconds.

* * *

The next couple of weeks were uneventful, Emma continued to work nights and explore the city by day, although she made a point to avoid the area around the beach she had fallen in, not wanting to run into that man with dark hair and impossible eyes.

One day at the beginning of May, Emma walked down stairs to see Granny hugging a tall thin girl with long brunette hair streaked with red. She let go of her and held her at arm's length, "Jesus Ruby, you look like a bloody skeleton. You need to get some meat on your bones."

"Granny, I eat like a fucking horse." Granny's eyes narrowed and she muttered something along the lines of 'watch your language'. Emma moved to the bar to grab something to eat before she headed out when the girl with red streaks turned to her, "Oh. My. God! You must be Emma! Granny told me so much about you. You don't know how happy I am that she finally hired someone my age. I mean, it would have been nice if it had been a hot man, but still, it's nice not to be surrounded by 15 year old bus boys and middle aged men." She spoke with an American accent and the words came out so quickly that Emma was taken aback at first.

"Yeah, I'm Emma, you're…"

"Ruby! Granny has me come visit every summer and help out around the pub. It's nice to come and visit Dublin every once in a while, but I'm so glad that there is finally some one my own age to talk to around here!"

Emma smiled at the girl. Her makeup was extravagant, her eyes were flawlessly lined and her lips were big red and pouty. She didn't normally make many friends, but was oddly glad that Ruby was here. "Oh, you're Granny's granddaughter then? You're going to school in the US right?"

Ruby nodded happily, "Yep! That's where I'm from actually, my parents moved there just before I was born and I only visit during the summers."

Emma nodded as she listened, "Are you planning on staying there after you graduate?"

Ruby sighed, "I'm not really sure, I mean I _love_ Dublin. More than Boston most days, but I'll have to see. What are you up to today? Gran says that you mostly go out and see the city during the days."

Emma smiled, "Yeah, I've never been to Dublin before, so I'm still seeing what's out there."

Ruby grinned widely, "Well, as luck would have it, I basically lived here as a child, so I can show you all the best places!"

"Lead the way then," Emma smiled. Ruby grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the pub. It had been years since she had had a friend to just hang out with and she was weirdly excited for the day.

Emma and Ruby became inseparable over the next month. They explored the city during the day, and on their nights off Ruby dragged Emma to dance clubs or Emma dragged Ruby to different pubs and breweries across Dublin. They were at an underground rock club, something that was slightly out of style for Ruby one night in the middle of June. The music as surprisingly good and Emma and Ruby were having a blast, dancing in the middle of the floor to the roar of the music. Emma looked up to see Ruby smiling when something caught her eye in the background. A pair of piercing blue eyes were watching her dance with a look of amusement. She grabbed Ruby's hand and pulled her to the other side of the club, towards the small staircase that led up to the street.

Ruby looked at her in confusion, "What's wrong?"

Emma was unsure why she didn't want to see him, embarrassment probably, mostly for her clumsiness, but also for how sharp she'd been with him. "Nothing, I just don't feel that great, I think I'm gonna head home."

"Emmmmmma," Ruby dragged out her name in a whine, "please, we're having so much fun! Besides, I know one of the guys from the one of the bands that's playing and I really want to see them!"

"I'll be fine, you stay, I just think I need to get some sleep." She gave her friend a soft smile before turning to the door.

"Fine, but you're going to miss a great show!" Ruby looked over her shoulder at her one last time before making her way to the dance floor once more.

Emma walked back to MacTavish slowly, enjoying the cool air and soft noises of the city, a welcome change after the loud club. She reached the bar and climbed the stairs, kicking off the heels that Ruby had forced on her feet earlier that night and pulling the zipper down off her dress. She threw her air into a messy ponytail, loose curls falling out to frame her face, she pulled on a pair of sweats and a sports bra before laying on her bed, flipping through the television channels. She wasn't actually tired and continued to flip through the channels half-heartedly before settling on an old western movie. She hadn't realized how late it was until she heard Ruby slamming the pub door shut, probably waking half the people renting rooms. She climbed out of bed and walked barefoot down the stairs, she had reached the landing and could hear Ruby's giggling and male laughter. Emma smiled and was about to turn around to head back upstairs when Ruby spotted her and yelled, "Emma! Come here and have a drink with us!"

Emma chuckled before turning once more to step into the pub, and stopped dead. The man with those incredible blue eyes was standing there. She looked him up and down; he was wearing all black, a considerable amount of leather and was that eyeliner? He was looking her up and down with that same amused expression he had on earlier and she realized that she was only wearing her sports bra. Her mouth opened and closed silently, no sound escaping. Ruby hadn't noticed her reaction, she was busy pouring a couple of beers for the three of them, and Emma snapped out of it when she heard a door upstairs slam shut. She reached for the ratty sweatshirt that was hanging behind the bar and slipped it on, zipping it up.

"No need to cover up on my account love." He paused before continuing, "I'm glad to see you're not brain damaged or worse: dead, it would be such a loss to lose such a pretty face."

"Wait. What?" Ruby looked between the two of them in confusion. Emma was about to say something when she heard the stairs creaking. They all turned to see Granny emerging from the staircase, a shotgun in hand. Granny looked between the three of them before setting the shotgun against the wall and walking over to the tall man leaning against the bar, "Killian Jones. I haven't seen you in ages! What brings you around here?"

She pulled him into a tight hug that he returned, smiling warmly, "Ruby came to see me at the club tonight, and invited me back for some drinks, care to join us?"

"It's late, and I should really get some sleep, but since I haven't seen you in forever I guess I can spare a few minutes. Have you meet Emma? She's my new waitress and Ruby's new partner in crime."

Emma shifted slightly on her feet, carefully looking down and inspecting the wood of the floorboards.

She looked up when she heard his deep voice reply, "I have had the pleasure of making Emma's lovely acquaintance. It was a while ago though."

Ruby's confusion grew, "Wait, you too know each other. How?"

Emma began to feel a blush crawling up her neck towards her face. "He might have helped me when I fell in the water a couple months ago," she grumbled finally.

Ruby burst out laughing, "You fell in the ocean?!" Emma threw her a glare before looking up when Granny spoke.

"You didn't tell me someone helped you out."

Emma looked back down at her feet, "Yeah, well, it wasn't exactly my finest moment."

She heard a bark of laughter, "She wouldn't even let me take her to a bloody doctor. She just stormed off after I so _heroically_ jumped in to save her."

Ruby gasped, "Wait. This handsome piece of ass jumped in the water to save you and you just left him! Emma, I'm so ashamed to call you my friend!"

Killian laughed at her comment, before turning back to Emma, "I told you that you should have gotten your head checked, maybe she really did suffer from brain damage."

Emma glared over at him, "Yeah buddy, that's it, I walked away from you so I must have some sort of deficiency."

He chuckled, "Easy love, I was only joking."

Emma reached for the beer that Ruby was holding out towards her and wrapped her hands around the glass before taking a long sip and smiling. "Jesus, Granny, what is this?"

Granny chuckled, "You like it? I though you would. It's a new dark lager I'm trying out."

Emma closed her eyes and allowed herself to savor the taste, "Oh God, this is amazing."

Killian raised his eyebrows at her when she opened her eyes again and gave her a huge smirk, "Having a moment love?"

She shot him a glare and opened her mouth to retort but was cut off by Granny, "There was something I've been meaning to ask you Emma. I've been trying to find some new ales and stouts for the pub. Would you be willing to drive out to Wexford this weekend to one of the supplying breweries? I normally visit them, but I've got an appointment on Saturday afternoon that I can't miss."

Emma grinned widely, "Of course! I would love to! Oh, um… I don't have a car though."

"You can take mine, my appointment isn't too far from here, I'll walk."

Ruby interjected, "Granny, she can't take your car, it's a piece of shit."

Granny looked over at her granddaughter with a stern expression on her face, "Watch your language, and it's fine, it's worked for me for the past 12 years."

Ruby rolled her eyes at her grandmother's back after she turned back to face Emma, "Alright, it's settled, now you all need to get to bed because you have the lunch shift tomorrow and I expect you to be awake for it."

Ruby gave an exaggerated sigh at her grandmother's words, "Fine, fine. I'll get to bed in a bit."

Granny grabbed Killian in a tight hug once more, "Now, don't be a bloody stranger," she mock scolded him.

"Alright, alright, I promise to visit more often."

Granny smiled at the three as she grabbed her shotgun and climbed back up the stairs.

"Well, that's my queue then. Ruby nice to see you as always." He turned his eyes to Emma, "Lovely to finally meet you officially, love."

"Yeah, whatever." She turned to start climbing the stairs as Ruby let Killian out and locked the door behind him. She was almost to her room when Ruby came sprinting up the stairs and caught up to her. "What the hell was that?"

"What do you mean?"

"The obvious eye-fucking that you two were doing. Was that really the whole story you told earlier about falling in the ocean? Nothing happened between you two?"

"What?! Come on Ruby, what do you think happened, he pulled me out and we made out because he's just so charming?" The sarcasm was dripping from her voice.

"I don't know, but it looked like he did more than just help you out."

"Sorry to disappoint, but I told you the entire story, now I am actually really tired now and I would love to sleep a little bit tonight."

"Alright, but this conversation is _not_ over."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Oh my gosh, you guys are so nice. I was really nervous that it was super horrible but all your reviews were so wonderful! So I'm not sure how often I'll update this, I'm working full time this summer and taking a couple of classes, it'll probably be around once a week. Also, this is unbeta'd so if there are any glaring mistakes please let me know!**

**I forgot to add this last time but I don't own any of these characters, they belong to OUaT and ABC.**

* * *

Saturday morning came quickly and she awoke to her blaring alarm at 5:00. She picked it up fumbled with the buttons before it shut off. She let her head fall back on the soft pillows; she was relatively excited for the day but couldn't bring herself to leave the comfort of her warm blankets. She finally picked herself off the bed a few minutes later and pulled on her favorite jeans and a simple red shirt before lacing up her boots. She opted for loose curls and simple makeup and made her way down the staircase around 6. She groaned when she saw who was leaning against the counter.

_Why is he even here this early? _

He had lost the leather and the eyeliner from the other night, and was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a plain black tee that was stretched over his muscular arms. She glanced down to notice how his jeans hugged his hips. _Oh god, they looked way too good on him. What the fuck Emma? He's not that great looking. Get it together. _She shook her head to clear her thoughts. He had his arms crossed on the counter and was talking to Granny, who noticed as she entered the room, "Here's the keys love, it's not too far of a drive, a little over two hours to the brewery. I told Graham to expect you around nine, so when you get there just ask for him."

Killian turned around at this point and looked her up and down slowly, "Well, aren't you looking beautiful this morning."

Emma rolled her eyes and walked over to the counter, where Granny had left a map with her route highlighted, keys to her old car and a plate of breakfast. Emma grabbed a piece of toast and stuck it in her mouth before grabbing the map, keys and her black bag that was sitting on the bar from the night before. She made her way to the door, pushing it open with her foot and turned to wave at Granny, but she was already back into a deep conversation with Killian. She rolled her eyes and walked over to where Granny's car was parked.

The drive along the coastline was gorgeous, the green hills glowed in the morning sun, and she rolled the window down to enjoy the warm summer breeze and listen to the waves crash into the side of the cliffs as she drove along the relatively deserted highway.

She reached Wexford much sooner than she had anticipated and pulled the map from the seat next to her to follow the directions Granny had written down. She arrived at the brewery around 8:30 and pulled into the large parking lot, shutting off the car and walking to the entrance. She read the name "Howling Wolf" in large black lettering on the double doors, and stopped before entering to examine a logo of a greyish white wolf howling below the name. She finally pushed the doors open and walked in to the entryway.

There was a small woman with curly brunette hair sitting at a desk at the end of the hall; she looked up from the book she was reading as Emma approached her.

"Excuse me, I'm supposed to be meeting someone named Graham."

The woman smiled and stuck out her small hand, "Emma? You're early; you weren't scheduled until nine I think. My name's Belle, I'll show you to his office."

Emma followed the woman through a maze of hallways that were lined with large posters and photographs of different alcoholic labels, beers and breweries. She stopped behind Belle as they reached a large wooden door with 'Graham Humbert' on it in bold black lettering. Belle knocked twice before pushing open the door, "Hey Graham, Granny's rep is here for you."

Emma followed her into the office and was greeted by a warm smile and an incredibly handsome face. "Emma Swan? Nice to meet you."

He stuck his hand out and she took it in her own, shaking it. "Yeah, nice to meet you too."

"Would you like a tour of the brewery before we start the tasting?"

Emma smiled, "I would love to, I've never seen how they operate before."

Graham led her out of the office and down a hallway that led to a large stainless steel door. He opened it to reveal a colossal warehouse type room filled with large noisy machines. Graham began explaining the steps that the grains went through, starting with the milling eventually ending with the filtering and filling of the final products. After they had made their way through the machines, they ended on the other side of the warehouse where there was another large door. Graham pushed it open and Emma saw huge metal vats throughout the room. They climbed a pair of metal stairs until they were on a walkway built just above the large steaming vats. Emma looked down to see the final colors of the finished products: there were dark amber ales, pale golden wheat beers, dark brown stouts, and bright lagers. They made their way down the stairs and through a final door that led to the filtering and filling process. Stacks of large kegs and cases of bottles were stacked on shelves throughout the room. Emma listened intently as Graham explained the entire process of filling and shipping.

"So why'd you name the brewery Howling Wolf?"

Graham smiled, "I dunno really, wolves have always called to me."

Emma smiled and followed him up a small flight of stairs that led to a tasting room. For the next few hours she tasted different types of ales, lagers and stouts until she had narrowed down her decision to 5 different types including two dark stouts, an apple ale, a light wheat beer and a delicious lager.

"Granny said you had good taste, I guess she was right."

Emma smiled, "I never really enjoyed beer all that much until I came here. The stuff I drank in New York tastes like piss water compared to the stuff they have over here."

He chuckled lightly, "Well, I'll call Granny to double check the order size and confirm everything."

Emma smiled before getting up to shake his hand, "It was really nice to meet you Graham."

"Nice to meet you two Emma."

She got to the car around noon and turned the key in the ignition. She was greeted with a harsh grinding noise and then silence. After several more attempts to start the dead car she let her head fall against the steering wheel with a loud thud.

"Shit." She pulled her head back up and rubbed the red spot that had just appeared. She dragged herself out of the car and walked back to the front desk where Belle still sat reading her book at an alarming rate.

"Hey, would you mind if I used your phone?" Belle looked up at her as she explained, "Car troubles."

Belle pushed the phone towards her and smiled, "By all means."

Emma punched the number for MacTavish into the phone and waited for someone to pick up the line.

She was greeted by a familiar and incredibly irritating voice, "Hello?"

She sighed in annoyance, "Can I talk to Granny please? Or Ruby if she's not there?"

She could almost hear his infuriating smirk on the other end of the line, "Sorry love,

I'm all that you got right now."

Emma groaned, "Seriously Killian, I need to talk to one of them."

"Seriously Emma," he mocked her tone, "I'm the only one here right now, Granny left for her appointment and Ruby is God knows where. But I'm more than happy to oblige with whatever your heart desires."

She rolled her eyes, "Just tell whoever comes back first that Granny's car died and I need to know what she wants me to do with it."

"Where are you?"

"I just finished up at the brewery."

"Alright love, I'll let them know when they get back."

"Thanks," she mumbled before hanging up the phone, not waiting to hear whatever annoying response he was about to give. Belle almost forced her sit in the front room with her instead of outside in the sun and heat. She waited almost two hours before deciding to go outside for a walk. "I'll be right back, I need to stretch my legs for a bit. If Granny or someone named Ruby calls, will you just let them know I'll be back in a while?"

Belle smiled and nodded her head, not taking her eyes off of the book in her hands. Emma got up and stretched before making her way to the front doors and out into the sunlight. She started to make her way across the road to a rocky outlook that looked over the ocean. She turned when she heard a motorcycle making its way along the deserted road; it began to slow as it reached her. _Oh great, just what I need some creep on a motorcycle stopping to talk to me._ Her eyes widened in shock and then annoyance when she saw which creep was on the motorcycle. _Okay, so he's not exactly a creep, but what the fuck is he doing here?_

He pulled up next to her and smirked at her expression, "Need a lift, love?"

She closed her eyes to try and calm the irritation that was etched all over her body, "Why are you here Killian?"

"Well, I wasn't about to leave you stranded in a foreign city, what kind of gentleman would I be then?"

"I wasn't under the impression that you were a gentleman."

"Love, I'm always a gentleman. Now, do you want a ride or not?"

"Fine." Her single word was icy and cold, but it only made Killian's smirk grow wider.

"Well then, hop on lass."

She glared at him once more before straddling the bike behind him and crossing her arms against her chest.

"You may want to hold on love," he looked over his shoulder at her crossed arms and grinned. The next second they shot off so fast that Emma grabbed on to the back of his shirt instinctively and then wrapped her arms around his waist in irritation. The rode down the coast for a few hours and Emma subconsciously rested against his body her head on his back and watched the ocean as the waves crashed into the rocks. They reached Dublin in a much shorter time that Emma had expected, probably because Killian had no apparent regard for the speed limit and Emma climbed off the bike awkwardly, her body protesting the change after sitting for so long in the same position.

She turned to Killian, whose hair was windblown and lay messy _and stupidly attractive _across his forehead, "Thanks for getting me I guess." She turned to enter the bar when she heard him reply.

"You can pay me back anyway you like, love."

She turned back around to see his eyebrows cocked and glared at him before pulling the door open and walking into the busy pub, hearing his motorcycle take off.

She was greeted by a loud screech, "Emma! We were so worried about you, we called the brewery but the woman on the phone said that you left for a walk and never came back."

Shit. She'd completely forgotten to go back and tell Belle she was leaving. "Didn't Killian tell you he came to get me?"

Ruby looked over at her, "What? No! That bastard, I'm gonna have to yell at him for scaring the shit out of me! I thought you were lying dead somewhere!"

"I'm fine Ruby!"

"Well your hair certainty isn't, what the hell did you do to it?"

Emma glanced in the mirror behind the bar to see her curls were tangled and messy from the wind. "Jesus," she muttered to herself, trying to tame them. "Killian picked me up on his bike and I didn't have a hair tie."

"Wait, why'd you even call Killian to pick you up? I thought you didn't like him."

Emma shot a glare over her shoulder at her friend, "I didn't. I called here but _you_ were 'God knows where' and Granny was at her appointment. I told him to just tell whichever one of you got back first but he felt the need to come and get me for some reason."

Ruby pointed a finger over at Emma, "I'll have you know that I was very busy today."

Emma smirked, "Yeah, what's his name?"

Ruby threw her a smirk, "Always assuming I'm with a guy! I was actually running errands for Granny! Anyways, how was the brewery?"

"It was really great actually, I tasted like a million beers so there's no complaints over here. Plus the guy that runs it was really cool."

"Well, while I am glad you're not dead, I would _love _someone to cover my tables for a half hour. I need a break." She looked over at Emma with puppy dog eyes and a huge pout on her face.

Emma groaned and grabbed the pad out of Ruby's hand, "Fine, but get back soon, I'm starving, all I had today was toast this morning and beer."

Ruby smiled and hugged her before running upstairs, "Thanks Em!"

Emma was eating dinner an hour later when Granny made her way into the pub, "Hello love, did you get everything settled at the brewery?"

Emma smiled, "Yeah, Graham said that he'd call you with the details sometime tomorrow I think."

Granny nodded and started to walk back to the kitchen.

"Oh Granny! You're car died today, it's still sitting the parking lot of the brewery, I wasn't sure what you wanted me to do and couldn't get a hold of Ruby."

"Oh it'll be fine there, I'll call a mechanic in Wexford tomorrow and get it all figured out. How'd you get back here?"

Emma looked down at her plate of food in what she hoped was a nonchalant way, "When I called to talk to Ruby Killian picked up the phone so he came to get me."

She looked up to see Granny giving her a mischievous smile.

"Oh my god, not you too. I was calling to talk to you or Ruby!"

Granny didn't say anything but widened her smile and turned back to enter the kitchen.

Emma grumbled into her plate as she finished her dinner. She looked up to see Ruby leaning against the counter next to her, "Oh! I forgot to tell you, we're doing something Monday so don't make any plans."

Emma at her with a suspicion written all over her face, "What are we doing?"

Ruby beamed, "It's a surprise, and you _have _to come. Promise?"

"Tell me what it is first and then _maybe_ I'll promise."

"No! I swear it will be fun and exciting, just promise you'll come, okay?"

"I hate surprises Ruby, they never seem to end well."

"Well I promise that this one will, so just be ready to go at 8:00 tomorrow."

"I feel like I have no choice in this."

"Good, you're finally getting the picture," Ruby beamed at her once more before bouncing off to flirt with a table of college age tourists.

* * *

Ruby grabbed her arm and pulled her down the stairs. "Come on Emma, we're gonna be late if you don't hurry."

Emma sighed before following her down the stairs, "You could at least tell me where we're going." She raised her eyebrows in question at her friend who just smiled mischievously back.

"You'll see soon enough, I promise. It'll be fun."

Ruby had kicked Emma out of her room earlier that morning and filled a bag of full of Emma's things before almost dragging her down the stairs. "I leave in a little over a month, so we're going to have as much fun as possible until then."

Emma followed her out the door, trying to catch a glimpse of what was in the bag that Ruby had slung over her shoulder.

"Hey! No peeking!"

"Will you at least give me a hint?"

Ruby smiled and shook her head happily, her red streaks flying back and forth.

Emma gave a dejected but amused smile, "Alright fine, let's go."

Ruby beamed over at her, "Okay we're just waiting for our ride."

"Our ride? Wait. Who is picking us up?"

Ruby glanced over at her with another mischievous look on her face but didn't answer. A minute later a large black jeep pulled up to them, the top was off and Killian Jones smirked down at her from the driver seat.

She sighed and glared over at Ruby, "Really, we're going somewhere with him?"

"Hey! Be nice, he's my friend and even if you refuse to be civil to him I still like having him around."

Killian interrupted their bickering, "Ready love?"

"I don't even know what I'm supposed to be ready for."

Ruby pushed her into the front seat before climbing into the back, "Let's go!" she said impatiently.

Killian stepped on the gas and accelerated from where he had been parked, jerking them all back for a second. Emma looked over at him as she pulled her hair into a messy ponytail to protect it from the wind, "You should really learn how to ease onto the road."

He glanced over at her with an impish grin, "Do I make you nervous love?"

She glared at him and punched his arm.

"That's not very nice love."

She scowled at him before turning to look out over the coastline. They drove along the coast for about an hour before pulling off the road and driving out to the very edge. Ruby jumped out before the Jeep had even pulled to a stop and ran to the edge squealing in delight.

"Can someone finally tell me what we are doing here?"

"We're cliff diving love."

Emma looked at him her face expressionless, "We're _what_?"

"You know, cliff diving. Diving off cliffs, it's not a difficult concept really."

Ruby showed up at her side before she could retort shoving Emma's bag into her hands, "I packed all the things you need, now change."

Emma stared at her friend. "What? You can't be serious, we're _cliff diving_?"

Ruby tapped her foot impatiently, "Yes, now go on the other side of the Jeep and change."

"I promise I won't peek love." Killian looked at her with a maddening smirk on his face.

She gave him an irritated eye roll. "Fine. But I'm not promising I'm jumping off anything."

She walked to other side of the Jeep and opened the bag to see what Ruby had packed for her. She had grabbed a pair of jean shorts and a think black tank top, a towel and her small red bikini. Of fucking course she had packed the smallest swimsuit that she owned. She grumbled as she slipped the suit on and then walked back around to the other side to see that Ruby had her suit on under her clothes as she pulled off her shirt and wiggled out of her shorts.

Killian looked her over, "That's a nice look love, you should consider it for work. You might get a few more tips." She turned around and punched his arm again.

"Ow! Bloody hell Swan, that hurt."

She smiled sweetly at him before growling, "Good."

Emma followed Ruby and Killian to the edge of the cliff and looked down, it looked _far_. She glanced over at Killian who was removing his shirt and- _oh fuck._ His stomach was toned and muscular and his chest and shoulders were much more defined that she would have liked. Her eyes traveled down the dark line of hair that ran into his low hanging shorts. She snapped her eyes away from him before he or Ruby noticed. _Stop it Emma, stop it. _Killian looked over at the two girls who were still standing right next to the edge and motioned to them, "After you ladies."

Ruby looked over at Emma, "You wanna go first?"

Emma glanced down once more, "Have you done this before, it looks _really far_?"

Killian chuckled and teased her, "Not a fan of heights love?"

Emma shot him a look of contempt, "I'm not a fan of splitting my head open on a rock."

Killian burst out laughing at this, "Well our first encounter would suggest otherwise."

She glared at him once more and out pure spite turned to the edge of the cliff and took the leap. She fell for what seemed like minutes, the air rushing past her ears in a dull roar. Her adrenaline was pumping on full when she finally felt the splash of cool water and fell beneath the surface; she swam up to break the surface laughing at the mix of adrenaline and excitement and looked up at the two small figures at the top of the rocky cliff before watching one of them jump off the edge. She moved to float on her back as Ruby splashed into the water a few feet from her.

Ruby came up next to her as she watched Killian finally jump in, "Wasn't that bad, was it?

Emma laughed, "I guess not, it was actually pretty exhilarating."

Ruby splashed her, "See, I told you we'd have fun today."

Killian landed a little ways away from them and swam over to where they were splashing at each other.

"Nice to see you in the water and not bleeding love."

Emma scowled at him and splashed him in the face, "Why are you always so _irritating_?"

"I just love to see you all riled up darling. Race you back to the top?"

Emma scoffed, "I am not racing you. What are we, 12?"

"Scared you'll lose?"

Emma glared over at him, "Yeah right, if we did race, I would win by a long shot."

His face split into a huge grin, "Prove it." He started to swim to the edge of the water to where a small path had been cut out of the rock. She growled to herself before flipping onto her stomach and swimming after him. She caught up to him as he was hoisting himself out of the water.

"I'm afraid you're losing love." He shouted over his shoulder as he raced up the pathway.

She pulled herself out of the water and jumped up the steps, racing after him. He was about to reach the top of the cliff when she came sprinting up behind him before passing him.

"Ha! I told you I would win. And you had a head start."

He grinned back at her, "You only won because I let you."

"Ohh, sore loser are we?"

His grin widened, "Nah, just truthful."

She was about to respond when he disappeared over the edge of the cliff. After a couple of hours of climbing up the cliff and diving back into the cool water they decided to eat the lunch that Ruby had packed for them. They lay on the thick sweet smelling grass looking up at the sky and enjoying the fruit and cheese.

After a few minutes Killian's deep voice interrupted the silence they had been enjoying, "What are you guys doing Friday night?"

"We were gonna go dancing! Do you want to come out with us?"

Emma turned her head to glare at Ruby who had flipped over and was propping herself up with her elbows.

"Well the band's playing at the club again, and there's supposed to be a party afterwards if you guys want to join. What'd you say love?" He turned his face to Emma. She really didn't want to see him anymore than Ruby forced her to and was attempting to come up with some plausible excuse when Ruby squealed, "Of course we want to come!"

Emma groaned as she laid her head back on the soft grass.

He looked over at her and grinned, "You don't have to sound so excited."

"Don't worry, that's how she sounds most nights before I drag her out dancing, but she always gives in eventually."

Emma ignored them as they continued to make plans for the weekend and looked up at the clouds, tracing the soft white shapes with her eyes. She continued to watch the clouds float gracefully across the sky and began to feel her eyelids grow heavy before they closed and she drifted off to sleep.

She awoke to something irritating her nose. She scrunched her nose and opened a single eye to see Killian sitting next to her, a long blade of grass twirling in his fingers as he tickled her nose.

"Could you be any more annoying?"

"I'm sure I could, want me to try?" He grinned down at her and took the blade that he had been using to tickle her tying it into knots before throwing it to the ground.

"Please don't."

"Come on, we're heading back."

She groaned as she sat up, rubbing at the sleep that was still in her eyes, "What time is it?"

"A quarter to three, you slept forever. It was quite boring without your stimulating conversation love."

She rolled her eyes, "Yet I'm sure you found a way to amuse yourself."

He chuckled, "Oh lass, when you're around I'm always amused, even if you're only muttering in your sleep."

"I do not mutter in my sleep!" She looked at him incredulously.

"Aye, but you do love. Something along the lines of, 'Oh Killian, you're so incredibly handsome and charming'."

"In your dreams buddy."

"You're always in my dreams, love."

Rolling her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that day, she stood up and stretched.

Ruby walked over to them and tapped her foot impatiently, "Let's goooo!" She exaggerated the words and reached a hand down to help Killian up.

They got back to MacTavish and climbed out of the Jeep, Ruby reached up to hug Killian before looping her arm through Emma's and turning them around to enter the pub.

Killian's voice called after her, "See you later love."

"Yeah, yeah whatever."

They entered to the noise of the dinner crowd and Ruby pulled Emma over to the bar where they sat down on a couple of stools and one of the guys behind the bar handed them a couple of ales. "So, today was fun right?"

"Yeah alright, I'll admit, it was pretty fun. I've never been cliff diving before."

"And hanging out with Killian was fun too, right?" Ruby eyed Emma as she sipped her beer.

"I just don't understand how you guys are such close friends, he's so _irritating_. I just want to punch him every time he opens his cocky mouth."

Ruby raised her eyebrows and gave Emma an irritating look that told her she didn't believe that.

"Oh my God Ruby, there is _nothing_ going on between us."

Ruby gave an exaggerated gasp and feigned innocence, "What are you even talking about? I said nothing of the kind."

Emma slumped her head on the surface of the counter and turned it sideways to look up at Ruby, "Yeah well your face did."

Ruby giggled, "_Come on_ Emma. He's hot and charming and he's totally into you. Live a little."

"I think you live enough for the both of us. Besides, if you think he's so hot and charming why don't you date him?" Emma raised her eyebrows in question to her friend.

Ruby scrunched her face in disgust, "Gross, I've known him since I was like 5, that would be like dating my brother."

"Yeah well, I'm not really interested in dating anyone right now, especially cocky musicians."

"You're no fun sometimes Emma. You're still coming with me on Friday though, right?"

Emma closed her eyes and whined, "Do I have to?"

Ruby grinned, nodding her head enthusiastically, her hair bouncing as she did, "Yes. I'll drag you there by your ear if I have to."


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own any of these characters, they belong to OUaT and ABC. Also, this is unbeta'd, so let me know if you see any glaring mistakes and I'll fix it!**

Emma walked downstairs Friday morning to find Ruby sitting at the bar eating breakfast and talking animatedly to Granny, who was wiping down the counters. She made her way over to them and sat down on the stool next to Ruby, grabbing a sausage from her plate. Ruby smacked the top of her hand with her fork, "Hey! Get your own."

Emma grinned at her and reached for another one, maneuvering her fingers around the fork that Ruby was threatening her with.

Granny looked over at them and smiled, "So, what are you two up to tonight then?"

Ruby beamed over at her grandmother, "Oh! Killian's playing again at the club and he invited us to come see him." She twirled her stool around to look at the clock on the back wall, "Actually he should be here any minute to drop off the passes to the show."

Emma took advantage of Ruby's diverted attention and reached for another sausage.

"Hey! I saw that!"

Emma swallowed quickly and raised her hands in mock innocence. Ruby raised her fork to threaten her again when the sound of the pub door opening caused all three of them to turn and look over in the direction of the entrance in time to see Graham enter. He walked over to where they were sitting at the bar and leaned across it, handing a slip of paper to Granny, "We got everything on the truck outside, I just need this signed."

She smiled as took the paper from him and signed it. She glanced up and handed him back the slip, "I left the check upstairs, I'll just go grab it real fast." Graham nodded at her and she made her way from behind the counter and hurried upstairs.

Emma looked up at Graham who was still leaning against the bar and smiled, "Hey Graham, what's up?"

He turned to her and smiled brightly, "Hey Emma! Not much, I'm just in town dropping off some orders today."

Ruby cleared her throat loudly and looked pointedly at Emma.

"Oh right, sorry. Graham this is Ruby, she's Granny's granddaughter." She turned to her friend before looking back over at Graham, "This is Graham, he's the supplier that I went to see last weekend down in Wexford."

Graham smiled and stuck his hand out, "Nice to meet you Ruby."

She giggled as she shook his hand, "Nice to meet you too!"

They all heard the door open once more and looked over to see Killian enter. He looked Graham up and down as he walked over to them, coming to stand next to Emma.

He looked down at her and winked, "Hello love, you look marvelous this morning."

She rolled her eyes, "Good morning Killian, I see you got here extra early just to irritate me."

He grinned and pulled a pair of tickets out of his back pocket, "Actually love, I just stopped by to drop these off. But, if you'd like me to stick around, I'm sure I could clear my schedule."

Granny emerged from the stairway, a check in her hand and walked over to Graham, "Here you are love, sorry it took so long."

He smiled brightly at her, "No worries, I'll have them unload everything around back then." He turned to Emma and smiled once more, "If you ever want to come down to the brewery again, I'd love to have you. We just started a new line of ales that I really think you'll like."

She felt Killian stiffen next to her and glanced curiously over at him to see his face had turned rigid before she turned back to Graham, "Yeah, I'd love to actually! I had a lot of fun last time."

He grinned, "I'm going to hold you to that." He looked down at Ruby, "It was nice to meet you Ruby, I'll see you guys later!" Giving them a small wave he made his way to the door and exited the pub.

As the door swung shut she heard a low growl next to her, "Who was that?"

Ruby grinned over at Killian, "That was Graham. He's the guy who runs the Howling Wolf brewery down in Wexford."

He scowled in the direction of the door before pushing the tickets into Emma's hand and looking down at her, "You're still coming tonight, right?"

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes, "Ruby's still dragging me with her, if that's what you mean."

His body relaxed slightly and he turned to smile at Ruby, "Alright, then I'll see you guys tonight." He reached down and grabbed a piece of sausage off Ruby's plate before turning to leave.

"Hey! Will you all stop eating my breakfast!"

He grinned over his shoulder at her before pushing the door open and exiting the pub.

Ruby turned to look at Emma as soon as the door swung shut, "So that Graham guy's pretty fucking hot."

Emma grinned over at her friend, "Go for it, Ruby."

Ruby gave her an exaggerated sigh, "I _meant_ for you."

Emma rolled her eyes before standing up and grabbing the last sausage off Ruby's plate, "I'm ignoring you and going upstairs now."

* * *

Emma glanced in the mirror over Ruby's shoulder inspecting her reflection; she was wearing skintight dark grey skinny jeans and a soft black backless top that Ruby had lent her. Ruby had spent hours curling her hair and then pinning part of it up at the base of her neck, while letting some hang down in soft curls. Ruby was currently in the process of applying her makeup and she squirmed in her seat.

"Are you sure I have to wear this?"

"Yes! You look super hot in it, plus you promised that I could choose your outfit as long as it wasn't a dress."

"Yeah, yeah I know, but this feels so _revealing_."

"It'll be dark in the club and it doesn't even matter because you look great in it anyways, I promise." She swiped Emma's eyelashes one last time with mascara before tilting her chin up to inspect her work, "There. You look perfect now."

She slipped on her small black boots and stood in front of the mirror appraising her appearance. She had to admit she did look pretty great. She turned to Ruby who was now applying her own makeup at Emma's desk, "What are you wearing then?"

Ruby smiled and finished applying her blood red lipstick before replying, "Ohh, I just got a new dress, you have to come see it. I look amazing in it."

Emma laughed and followed Ruby out of her bedroom and over to Ruby's room. Ruby reached into her closet and pulled out a short sleeveless black dress that glimmered with an undertone of red. She slipped it off the hanger and pulled it on, spinning around, "Amazing, right?"

Emma smiled as she inspected her friends dress, "You're going to have boys all over you tonight."

Ruby giggled, "I know!" She reached into her closet and pulled out two pairs of stilettos, "What'd you think?"

Emma pointed to the tall black ones and Ruby nodded, slipping them on her feet. She twirled in front of her mirror giggling before grabbing Emma's arm and dragging her towards the door, "Alright, let's go!"

They made their way to the club around nine and found it was already packed full of people, they squeezed their way to the bar before ordering a couple of drinks.

"So when does Killian's band come on?" Emma glanced over at her friend.

"I think he said at 10, but I'm not a hundred percent sure." Ruby looked over at the crowded dance floor and then back at Emma, "Let's dance!"

Emma stared warily at the mass of people jumping up and down and dancing to the loud music, "I think I'm going to stay here for a while, I might need a little more alcohol in me before I attempt entering that mess. You go ahead though!"

Ruby grinned and made her way across the club and into the mass of people. She watched as her friend disappeared into the crowd of people before turning back to her drink. She leaned up against the bar and watched a group of drunk girls giggling as they tripped their way to the dance floor. She was almost finished with her second beer when she felt someone press up against her side. She turned her head to find an incredibly large and hairy man grinning drunkenly down at her before he slurred loudly, "Hey love, do you wanna dance?"

She could smell the alcohol rolling off his pungent breath and took a step back, "Not even a little."

He stepped closer to her, forcing her to lean back, "Oh come on love, just one dance."

"Not. Interested." She shot him an icy look of disdain and he grumbled to himself before stumbling away to harass another poor girl a couple tables away.

Ruby made her way back over to where Emma was leaning against the bar a while later and ordered another drink. She glanced over at Ruby, "Is he ever going to come on? I'm getting a little tired of waiting."

Ruby grinned, "You know, you might not be so bored if you would come dance with me."

Emma tilted her beer back to finish the last sip of it before turning to her friend and smiling, "Alright, I guess I'm tipsy enough to dance for a little bit."

Ruby beamed and pulled her over to the dance floor. They had been dancing for a couple of songs when the band that was on stage started to pack up. Ruby pulled Emma close and shouted in her ear over the roar of the music that had just flooded the room from the speakers above them, "I think they're on next."

A couple of minutes later Killian and a few other guys came on stage. He was dressed in the black leather that she had seen him in the last time they were here and had a guitar strung across his body. After they had set up on stage she heard the drummer count them off and they started to play. Emma stood in the middle of the dance floor and looked up at them awestruck for a moment; they were good. Really good. She'd always been a pretty big fan of classic rock, and Killian's band combined the style of hard rock with a hint of Irish folk music and it sounded fucking phenomenal. Ruby pulled on her arm to get her attention, "They're pretty good, huh?"

Emma smiled and yelled back, "Yeah, I guess they are."

They danced for a couple of hours to the music before the band exited the stage. Ruby grabbed Emma's hand once more and pulled her off the dance floor and back over to the bar.

"So, what'd you think?"

Emma smiled, "Don't you dare tell Killian I said this but they were actually pretty great."

They were ordering a couple more drinks when Killian showed up behind Ruby grinning widely over Emma, "Hey love, how'd you like it?"

She looked over at him, a deadpan look on her face, "It wasn't totally terrible."

Ruby giggled, "She's totally lying, she was just telling me that she thought it was amazing."

Emma glared over at Ruby and then up at Killian when she heard him laugh, "So, where's this party we're supposed to be going to anyway?"

"C'mon, let's go, I'll show you guys."

She was standing up to leave when she felt somebody press up against her for a second time. She shivered out of disgust when the same slurred voice from earlier spoke in her ear and she felt his sticky breath on her neck, "Come on love, let's get out of here."

She turned around an cold look on her face and spat the words in his direction, "I said I'm not interested."

His glazed eyes traveled down to her chest, "Oh come on love, don't be like that."

Killian's face turned cold and his voice came out quiet and angry, "She said she's not interested mate. Get. Lost."

She turned back to face Ruby and Killian and felt a large sweaty palm on her back as another one groped her ass. Turning around once more, she grabbed his wrist, twisting his arm behind his back. "You touch me again and I'll fucking break it." She pulled his arm more tightly to get her point across and he howled out in pain before she released him. He stumbled away from them and she turned back to Ruby and Killian raising her eyebrows in question, "I thought we were leaving?"

Killian raised his eyebrows in surprise, an impressed look on his face, "Remind me never to piss you off love."

She shot him a look of bemusement, "You piss me off on a daily basis."

He grinned, "And yet, you've never felt the need to attack me for it, I feel so special."

They followed him up the stairs and out of the club to his black Jeep, which parked behind the building. Ruby raised her eyebrows, "Where is this party exactly?"

He cocked an eyebrow at her before responding in a mysterious voice, "You'll see."

Emma scoffed sarcastically, "That wasn't cryptic."

He chuckled softly and started the engine before pulling out into the street. He started heading to the edge of town and a few minutes later they had exited onto the highway, heading north.

Ruby glanced out the window, "Seriously, where are you taking us?"

"It's not that much farther, I promise."

They kept driving down the road for another half hour before they saw a shimmering light in the distance, Killian pulled up to a mass of cars that was parked a small way off from a huge bonfire. Ruby squealed in delight and jumped out of the back seat, grabbing Emma's arm as she climbed out after her, "Come on!"

Killian followed them as they made their way to the blaze, but disappeared as they came to sit down on a makeshift bench that had been formed from old crates.

"So, this is fun, right?"

Emma glanced over as Ruby nudged her side and smiled, "Yeah, alright I did enjoy the show, and this isn't a terrible after party." She glanced around at the people, "this is actually way better than I was expecting, I thought we were just going to go to another club."

Killian appeared in front of them, holding three plastic cups. He handed one to Ruby before sitting down on Emma's other side and passing her one.

"So, what do you think, love?"

She glanced over at him and saw the fire reflected in his eyes as he stared into the glow of the flames, "Alright, this wasn't a terrible idea."

He turned to meet her eyes and a bright smile lit up his face. They continued to sit by the huge fire for a while, talking and laughing random people that passed by. About half an hour later, Ruby dragged Killian and Emma over to where someone had pulled up a large truck with huge speakers in the back.

"Let's dance!"

Emma groaned, "I've done enough dancing for tonight Ruby!"

Ruby looked over to where she was standing with large eyes and she pulled her lips into a pout, "Please?"

Killian smiled and grabbed Ruby's hand, pulling her towards the mass of people, "I'll dance with you for a while!"

Ruby beamed up at her friend and Emma laughed as she watched them move into the crowd. She moved to the edge of people and sat down on the soft grass, looking up at the stars. She laid back and began tracing the constellations with her eyes. A half hour later she saw someone making their way over to her and turned her head to see Killian sitting down next to her.

"How's the party then?"

Killian chuckled, "I just got away from Ruby, that girl is a never ending ball of energy, I don't know how she does it."

Emma smiled softly, "Yeah, tell me about it."

Killian lay down next to her and pointed up to a group of stars overhead, "You know what that is?"

Emma glanced up at the cluster twinkling down at them, "Hmm?"

"It's Saoirse. She was a clever young girl who lived with her father, who was a beggar. One day, a rich gentleman walked past them and told Saoirse's father that he should work for a living instead of begging and then offered him a job. The old man took it, and brought his daughter to work with him everyday. After a couple of months, the rich gentleman tried to take advantage of the Saoirse, but she told him off and left him in his barn with his pants around his ankles."

Emma laughed, "That's my kind of girl."

Killian reached over and pinched her arm, "Oi! I'm telling a story over here, Swan. Shush!"

She swatted at his hand as he continued, "Anyways, the rich gentleman was very upset that she had gotten the better of him and went to find her father. He found the old man working in his fields and gave him a riddle to solve: 'What are there a greater number of, rivers or banks?' He then told the old man that he had until noon on the following day to come up with the answer and that he would hang him in the town square and take the man's daughter as his lover if he answered the riddle incorrectly. The old man went home that night and told his daughter the dreadful news, to which she simply smiled before replying, 'Tell the gentleman, there is not a river but has two banks'. The man went to work the next day, and at noon the gentleman came to find him. When the old man gave him the answer Saoirse had given him, the gentleman grew angry and gave him another question, 'Count for me the number of stars in the sky', he again gave the old man until noon the next day. The old man went home dismayed and relayed the predicament to his daughter. Again, she smiled before replying; 'Tell the gentlemen that you will count them if he will put posts under all of them, so you can reach them to count.' The man went to work again and conveyed the answer to the gentleman. The gentleman grew even angrier at this, for he knew he could not build that many posts and gave the old man another question, 'Tomorrow, tell me the number of quarts in the sea'. Again the old man went home and asked his daughter for the answer, to which she replied, 'Tell him that you will measure the sea in quarts when he stops the rivers and streams that flow into it, for you cannot measure it if it continues to change.' The man went to work once again and answered the gentleman. The gentleman knew he could not stop the rivers from entering the ocean and finally grew so angry that he could not win against the old man that he told him if he could not have Saoirse as a lover then he would marry her. The old man went home and told his daughter what the gentleman had said later that night and Saoirse smiled once more and replied that she would marry him if he could answer a riddle correctly. However if he could not answer it correctly, then he would give her father enough money to start his own farm and leave the alone forever. The gentleman agreed because he didn't know that she was the one who had beaten his riddles. The next day Saoirse gave the man three riddles and told him that if he could answer one correctly, she would marry him. She gave him the first riddle: 'A man has a barrel that weighs 100 kilograms, he puts something in it and it then weighs 50 kilograms. What did he put in it?' The gentleman thought for a while before he conceded defeat. She then asked him the second riddle: 'The man who invented it doesn't want it. The man who bought it doesn't need it. The man who needs it doesn't know it. What is it?' Again, the gentleman pondered the question before admitting defeat. Finally Saoirse gave him the last riddle: 'There is a word with letters three. Add two more and fewer there will be. What is the word?' The man continued to think before giving up one last time. Saoirse then took her father and the money they won and bought a farm, never seeing the rich gentlemen again."

Emma stared up at the bright cluster of stars as she listened to him finish the story, intoxicated by his words. His voice was soft and relaxing and she found she hadn't wanted him to stop talking when he finished. "So what were the answers to the riddles then?"

He chuckled softly, "Can't you figure them out?"

Emma pondered the first question to herself quietly, "Something that you put in a barrel to make it lighter…", she realized the answer and exclaimed loudly, "A hole!"

He laughed at her enthusiasm, "And the next one?"

"Say it again."

"The man who invented it doesn't want it. The man who bought it doesn't need it. The man who needs it doesn't know it. What is it?"

Emma turned the words over in her mind before turning to look at him, "A coffin!"

He smiled over at her, "Yeah, and the last one? There is a word with letters three. Add two more and fewer there will be."

Emma glanced up at the sky as she thought the question through. Sighing she turned to look at him once more, "Alright, what's the answer?"

He smiled softly, "Few. Add two more letters to the word 'few' and you get 'fewer'."

She groaned, "I should have known that." She looked back up at the stars splattered across the sky, "How do you know that story anyway?"

"My mum used to tell me about the stars when I was little, we'd lay in the backyard all night and she'd tell me the different stories of the different constellations. Not sure how many of them are accurate to be perfectly honest."

She pointed up to a small curve of stars to the North, "What are those ones?"

He laughed brightly, "Well, that's a swan. I hear it's a great story of a beautiful swan who falls in love with a very handsome and charming Irish singer."

She sat up and leaned over to punch his arm, "You're so full of shit, Killian."

He laughed and grabbed her fist before it collided with his bicep. "Love, I'm just telling you the stories my dear old mum told me. You wouldn't be telling me that my mum's full of shit, would you?"

Ruby came up behind them as she continued to try and punch him, "Jesus Emma, we have to go, it's almost 4:00."

Emma looked up at Ruby and groaned, "Are you serious?"

Ruby nodded and reached down to help Emma up, Killian jumped up and looked over at them amusement crossing his face, "I'm afraid I have some bad news, I might not exactly be okay to drive right now."

Ruby growled in annoyance, "Are you kidding me right now? Granny is going to kill me if I'm not there when she wakes up."

Emma held out her hand to Killian, "I'm fine, I had a beer when we got here a few hours ago, but I'm definitely sober."

Killian grabbed the keys from his pocket and placed them in her hand, allowing his own hand to rest on hers longer than was necessary. She looked over at him, eyebrows raised until he removed his fingers from her palm. They followed Ruby back t the Jeep and Emma climbed into the driver's seat, pulling the seat forward a good foot and a half, "Jesus Killian, how tall are you?"

He looked over at her and smirked, "Maybe you're just really short."

She rolled her eyes as she turned the key and started the ignition. A couple minutes later, Emma glanced in the review mirror to see Ruby sleeping in the backseat, hugging her curled up knees. She looked over to seat next to her to see Killian resting his head against the window, his eyes closed in sleep.

"A lot of good you two are," she muttered to herself. She reached for the radio on the dash of the Jeep and flipped through the stations until she heard the introduction to Stairway to Heaven. Smiling softly she looked out the window and looked at the cluster of stars that they had been looking at earlier. She was softly singing along to the lyrics when she heard a sleepy voice interrupt her.

"I wouldn't have taken you for a Zeppelin fan."

She looked over at Killian, who was still resting against the window, his eyes still closed.

She smiled softly, "Everyone knows this song."

They listened to the music for a couple more minutes before his voice interrupted it once more, "You have a lovely voice you know."

She felt a blush begin to creep up her neck and was glad his eyes were still shut.

"Yeah, it's nothing special. It's not like I'm some great singer in a band or anything," she teased him.

He chuckled softly and the soft music continued to play as she continued down the deserted highway. About an hour later she pulled up in front of MacTavish, she turned around and saw Ruby still curled up in the backseat. She reached over to poke Killian and he started awake, "Huh?"

She laughed softly, "I'm not sure where you live, or if you just want to stay here tonight."

He raised his eyebrows at her, "Is that an invitation, love?"

She rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean."

He stretched as he opened the door, "Yeah, I don't want you to have to walk back, so I'll stay here tonight."

Emma jumped out and opened the back door, shaking Ruby softly, "Hey Ruby, we need to go inside."

Ruby opened her eyes slightly and groaned before climbing out and following Emma into the pub. Emma followed Killian as he helped Ruby up the stairs and into her room, she pulled the key out of her bag and opened her door before turning to see Killian shut Ruby's door behind her. He smiled over at her, "Thanks for coming tonight, love, I had a lot of fun."

She smiled slightly, "You have a key to one of the rooms?"

He nodded and turned to head back downstairs. "Yeah, I know where Granny keeps them, I'll run down and get one. Goodnight Emma."

"Night."

She shut her door behind her and walked over to her bed, sitting down and pulling off her boots.

_I am so fucked._

* * *

**A/N: So I rewrote this chapter like four times and couldn't reread it anymore and I'm not even sure if it's coherent tbh because I reread it so many times. Also, you guys are all so wonderful and I really love your comments, especially if you leave constructive criticism because I'm not a big writer, so it's nice to know what you think/ideas on how to improve! Also, if anyone wants to beta this I would love you forever, so if you're interested PM me!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own any of these characters, they belong to OUAT and ABC!**

* * *

Emma heard something knocking what felt like moments after she had closed her eyes to sleep. She groaned and pulled the blankets over her head, but the loud knocking continued.

She let out an irritated groan, "Go away!"

She heard the door open slightly and pulled the blanket down to see an irritating grin on Killian's face as he looked in at her, "Come on love, Granny's in a mood and Ruby won't get up."

She pulled the blanket over head, curling up into a warm ball, "What didn't you understand about the words _go away_. I'm tired!"

"Your funeral, love. Well, actually it'll be yours and Ruby's."

Emma sighed and emerged from the bed, throwing Killian an irritated expression as he leaned against the doorframe, "Fine. I'm coming. Now, GO AWAY!"

He gave her another irritating grin before shutting the door. She grumbled to herself as she looked through her closet, not actually caring what she wore.

She climbed down the stairs a few minutes later to the loud sounds of customers and looked up at the clock on the back wall. Christ, it was already 1:00. She sighed as she made her way to the kitchen, catching an irritated glance that Granny threw at her before pushing into the back room and grabbed her apron and pad. She did the rounds of her usual tables, refilling drinks and taking orders. She stopped at the bar on her way back from dropping off an order, where Killian was sitting, talking to a regular about how busy the pub had been recently. Emma held the tray against her side and grabbed the man's glass, filling it with a dark ale.

"There are so many people in here recently, that I have to wait some days for a seat!"

Granny walked by and smacked the man on the head, "William, you never have to wait for a seat and you know it."

The man's face reddened and he called after her, "Yeah, well, if you didn't know me I would!"

Killian grinned and turned to Emma, who was placing the glass in front of the old man. "You're looking radiant this afternoon."

Emma glared at him, "Yeah, sure I do. But, I would look a bit more radiant if _someone_ had not woken me up." She glanced around the pub, "Speaking of which, why isn't Ruby down here, or am I the only one that you like to irritate?"

He chuckled lightly, a spark of amusement flashing through his eyes, "I wouldn't go near Ruby today if Granny paid me, she's not the most pleasant when she's hungover."

Emma raised her eyebrows in question at him, "And why exactly aren't you hungover then? You had more to drink that both of us combined last night."

"It takes a bloody hell lot more than that to get me hungover."

Emma eyed him and turned to the man who was still grumbling to himself about the crowds, "Need anything else, Will?"

He shook his head and turned back to his plate of food as Granny came to stand next to her, "Nice to see you've joined us, Emma."

Emma scrunched her nose in guilt, "Sorry, Granny."

Granny gave her a smile, "Well I can't be too mad. Killian helped me with the early lunch crowd since neither you or Ruby decided to grace us with your presence."

Emma glanced at the door as another few customers entered the pub before standing up. "I better go take care of that." She turned to Granny once more, "Sorry again, Granny!"

The lunch traffic began to wind down, and around three, Emma glanced up from the table of men she was chatting with the see a groggy looking Ruby descend the stairs in a pair of large sweatpants and ratty shirt, her long hair tied up in a messy bun. Emma suppressed a giggle as Ruby sat down unceremoniously on the stool next to Killian. Emma walked over to the bar, and rummaged under the counter for some aspirin.

"You look like shit, Rubes."

"Why are you here? More importantly, why are you so loud?" She lifted a hand to her temple and massaged it as Emma straightened and set the bottle in front of Ruby.

"I'm here because I'm such a great friend and saved both your asses from Granny's wrath this morning."

Ruby laid her head against the counter and closed her bloodshot eyes, "Just… shhh."

Emma set down a glass of water in front of her, "Drink this. Do you want anything to eat?"

She didn't lift her head or open her eyes, "If you bring me any form of food right now, I will throw up all over you."

Emma shrugged and eyed Killian suspiciously, "Why _are _you still here?"

He grinned over at her, "For your wonderful company, of course."

She rolled her eyes and turned back to Ruby, "Seriously Ruby, drink the water or you'll feel shitty all day."

Ruby finally lifted her head and popped four aspirin in her mouth before grabbing the tall glass and drinking the entire thing. Granny walked over and looked Ruby up and down, a look of amusement crossed her face at Ruby's disheveled appearance.

"So lovely of you to join us, this _afternoon._" The last word dripped with sarcasm.

Ruby glared at her before letting her head rest on the bar once more, "Can you all just be quiet, it feels like my head is splitting open."

Killian grinned and hopped off his stool, "Well, I have to leave, I have rehearsal in an hour and need to shower first."

Ruby made a noncommittal grunt and Granny hugged him, "Thanks for the help today, love."

He grinned down at her as he returned the hug, "Anytime, Granny." He turned to Ruby's slumped body, "Later, Rubes. Don't throw up on anyone."

She raised her middle finger in his direction as he turned to Emma, "See you later, love."

She raised her hand in a small wave, "Later, Killian."

Granny and Emma watched him exit the front door before they both turned back to Ruby, Emma giving her a pitying expression, Granny an amused one.

"Alright dear, eat something and then go take a shower, you'll feel better."

Ruby groaned, "I already told Emma, no food."

Granny shrugged and pushed her off the stool, "Then go shower, I need your help with the dinner crowd and you sure as hell aren't going to be serving people looking like that."

Ruby mumbled something under her breath as she stumbled across the room and the stairs.

An hour later, a less bedraggled looking Ruby emerged from the staircase, although there were still dark circles under her eyes, and she was much less bouncy than usual. She slid onto the stool next to where Emma was seated, filling the salt and pepper shakers.

Emma grinned over at her, "Feeling better?"

"No, I just want to go back to sleep."

Emma laughed lightly and glanced over at her, "Oh, I was talking to Granny earlier and she said we can take next weekend off to go down to Wexford. You want to come with?"

Ruby smiled, "Sounds fun. Saturday?"

Emma nodded and glanced up as Granny strode over to them

* * *

Emma woke to someone bouncing up and down on her mattress. She groaned and covered her face with the large pillow next to her when Ruby's excited voice exclaimed, "Get up! We're supposed to be at Killian's in 15 minutes."

She groaned again and pulled the pillow down slightly so she could see Ruby's smiling face over the top of the pillow, "Why are we leaving so early?"

Ruby grabbed the blankets and pulled them off, allowing the cold air of the room to find her, she wriggled around pulling the blankets back up, but the warm cocoon she had been sleeping in was ruined. She sat up as Ruby threw clothes at her from the closet, "Here, put these on."

Emma sighed and grabbed them, stepping onto the cold wooden floor and making her way to the bathroom.

She heard Ruby's muffled voice through the thick door, "Since I'm such a good friend, I made you hot chocolate this morning."

Emma opened the door and grinned over at her friend, "Cinnamon?"

"Yep! Now, let's go!"

Emma slipped on a pair of dark brown boots and followed Ruby downstairs, grabbing the warm cup of hot chocolate and a piece of toast that was sitting on the bar before following Ruby out the door.

Emma stared up at the large brick building; it was old and industrial looking. She walked through a large steel front door and up a couple flights of rickety old metal stairs.

There was a large industrial sized steel door with the C11 painted on it and she knocked hesitantly. A minute later a tired looking Killian slid it open, wearing only pajama pants. Emma's eyes wandered down his toned stomach to the line of coarse hair plunging into the waistline of his cotton pants. She snapped her eyes up quickly when she heard Killian's voice gravelly from sleep.

"Enjoying the view, love?"

She rolled her eyes, a blush creeping up her neck, and Ruby pushed past him into his apartment, "Were you sleeping? We're supposed to be there in two hours! We're going to be late!"

Killian gave her a crooked grin before sliding the door open and allowing Emma to step in. She followed him into his apartment and glanced around, taking in as much of the apartment as she could. It was large and open, the windows on the opposite wall reached almost from the floor to ceiling. The walls were old red brick; and a small kitchen was to the left of the doorway, with a large island sitting adjacent to the kitchen, four metal stools under the counter. The living room had two black leather couches and a metal coffee table situated between them, a large bookcase covered most of the wall adjacent to the windows, and was filled with hundreds of vinyl records, three guitars were sitting on stands against the tall glass window. There was a couple of steps that led up to a small area filled with an unmade king sized bed and another large sliding metal door that was open, to reveal a large closet. Finally, Emma glanced over to see there were hundreds of charcoal sketches covering most of the wall to the right of the door.

She watched him walk up the couple of stairs and into his closet, "I'll be ready in a second." He stuck his head out and glanced at Ruby, who was sitting on one of the stools, spinning slowly, "Start some coffee, love?"

Ruby gave an exaggerated sigh before grinning and hopping off the stool to start a pot.

Emma watched his head disappear into the closet before she walked over to the wall covered in sketches and stared up at them, amazed. There were hundreds of drawings of different buildings and views of the ocean, but the majority of the sketches were of people. Old, young, happy, sad, beautiful, plain, groups of people, and people by themselves. Emma traced her fingertips over a picture of a young girl staring out into the ocean with a look of utter excitement on her face as she pulled the arm of an adult standing behind her and over to a picture of an old man, gazing up at the sky as he sat alone on a bench. The sketches were marvelous. Emma felt the emotions of the subjects when she looked at them. Her fingers traced over the different subjects and she finally came to a sketch of a silhouette, standing on a rocky peninsula extending out into the ocean. Her breath hitched when she realized it was her messy hair that was blowing in the breeze, her leather jacket being hugged close to her body. She leaned closer to look at the detail of her curls, whipped wild by the wind and the curve of the waves crashing around her feet when another sketch caught her eye. It was a sketch of her and Ruby, she was sleeping in the grass and Ruby was sitting cross-legged next to her, hands placed in the grass behind her, laughing at something. She glanced over to see Ruby sitting on the stool once more, a bored expression on her face as she waited for Killian, before standing on her toes to look closer at it. It had to be from the day they had gone cliff diving. Even in charcoal, the details were amazingly accurate. He had captured Ruby's bright personality and wild laugh in a single moment. She gazed up at the drawing of her sleeping face in awe, her mouth was tipped in a slight smile as she slept, her face soft and free from tension and stress. She felt a blush creep up her neck at how accurate it was, he'd captured the details of her face perfectly; the small, faded, almost imperceptible freckles that splattered across her nose, the way her eyebrows arched into a soft point in the middle, the soft curve of her ears.

Emma let her fingers fall from the sketch of her face and walked over to look out the large window. She looked out to see a breathtaking view of the ocean, watching the dark waves crash into the rocks. She looked out onto the horizon to see dark storm clouds roll in, towards the city. She hugged the loose grey sweater she was wearing closer to herself and smiled. She'd always loved stormy weather, even when she was a child; it had calmed her to hear thunder rumble and lightning crackle across the sky when she was lying in uncomfortable beds in foreign houses. There had been something comforting about the power those storms held; more powerful than the people around her. She walked over to the bookcase filled with records and fingered through them, finding some of her favorite albums, bands she'd never heard of, and albums she'd never expected Killian to own. She raised an eyebrow as she pulled out the white brick covered album and chuckled softly to herself.

"Something funny, love?"

She jumped when she heard Killian's voice across the room, she turned to see him jump down the stairs, wearing a black shirt and dark blue jeans, hugging his hips in an irritatingly attractive way.

"Oh, it's nothing, I just really love this album."

He walked over to look at the album in her hand and lifted his eyebrows in surprise, "The Wall? First Zeppelin, now Floyd? I wouldn't have taken you for a classic rock fan."

Emma turned to slide the album back into the bookcase before walking across the room and sitting down next to Ruby, "There's quite a lot you don't know about me."

He raised an eyebrow and grinned widely, "Is that a challenge?"

Ruby's irritated voice interrupted them, "Are you ready yet?"

Killian grabbed a travel mug from a cupboard and poured coffee in it as he grinned over at Ruby, "Yeah, yeah, I'm almost done."

Emma glanced up at Ruby, who was humming along to the music as she drew black lines on her eyelids. Ruby's met her eyes in the mirror and smiled before shutting the mirror and pushing up the visor. She turned around and looked back at Emma, "What time did you tell Graham we'd meet him?"

Emma glanced down at her wrist, twisting the watch absentmindedly, "I told him we'd probably get there around noon."

She looked up and saw Killian's eyes narrowed back at her in the rearview mirror; she raised an eyebrow at his reflection. His eyebrow mimicked hers, an indecipherable expression on his face before he broke eye contact and looked back out the front window.

* * *

Emma pushed the doors open and saw Belle across the room, her nose buried deep inside a book, when Ruby exclaimed and excited "Ohh!" at the large wolf logo painted on the doors, she looked up and smiled.

Emma grinned back at her as they made their way across the tile floor, "Hey Belle, how are you?"

"I'm good! How's everything, the car working again?"

Emma grinned, "Nope, Granny's still deciding if she wants to even bother getting it fixed, we took Killian's Jeep today."

She glanced over to the two standing slightly behind her, "Shit, sorry, this is Granny's granddaughter, Ruby," she pointed in Ruby's direction before turning to Killian, "and this is our friend Killian. Guys, this is Belle."

Belle smiled shyly at them before turning back to Emma, "Do you want me to show you to Graham's office again?"

"Nah, I think I can find it."

Ruby and Killian followed Emma through the maze of hallways until they reached Graham's office. Emma knocked on the large wooden door and heard Graham's muffled voice, "Come on in."

She pushed the door open slowly and smiled over at Graham as he typed furiously on his computer. He glanced up at them, "One second, I just have to finish this invoice."

Ruby pushed past Emma and sat down on the large brown leather couch that was sitting against the wall, picking up a wooden carving of a wolf and inspecting it closely. Emma felt Killian press up behind her as he moved to shut the heavy door. Goosebumps rushed over Emma's arms and she moved so quickly to sit next to Ruby causing her to look up from the sculpture as she raised a quizzical eyebrow. Emma shook her head imperceptibly and Ruby shrugged before turning back to the carving in her hands. She felt the cushion next to her depress slightly as Killian lounged on her other side.

"Sorry about that, I didn't expect you for another half hour."

Emma grinned, "Yeah, well, Killian has no apparent regard for any kind of speed limit, so we got here faster than I expected."

Killian chuckled, "Just because I don't drive like a crippled elderly person does not mean that I have no regard for the speed limit."

Emma turned to him and shot him a look of feigned indigence, "An elderly person? Excuse me, I drive like a _sane_ person."

"Mhmm, whatever you say, love. All_ I'm_ saying is it took us like an hour longer to get home last weekend than it took to get there."

Emma punched his arm lightly, "Whatever, Jones."

He reached out and grabbed her fist, "It's not very nice to hit people, _Swan_."

She had a sudden urge to stick her tongue out at him, but refrained, knowing that she would never hear the end of it. She pulled her hand from his, a small flutter shuddering through her stomach, which she decided to ignore.

Ruby interrupted their bickering as she set down the wooden wolf and looked expectantly up at Graham, "So, what exactly are we doing today?"

Graham smiled down at them, "I thought we could go to lunch and then maybe I'll show you guys around?"

Ruby jumped up, a smile splitting across her face, "Sounds good!" She reached down and pulled Emma up by the arm and they followed Graham out his office door.

"Do you guys just want to follow me to the restaurant?"

Emma opened her mouth to reply when Ruby cut her off, "I'll come with you and Killian and Emma can follow in his Jeep!"

Emma closed her mouth and narrowed her eyes in Ruby's direction; a mischievous smile was spread across Ruby's face.

"Sounds good to me, it's actually not too far from here."

Emma just nodded, shooting one last glare at her friend as they exited the large front doors.

Emma watched Ruby slide in the front seat of Graham's old pickup, already telling Graham some story with elaborate hand gestures, and then turned to climb into the Jeep. She glanced over at Killian who was turning the key in the ignition, "So, you ever been down here before?"

"Wexford? Yeah, I had a couple of gigs here last year, but I've only been to the clubs that we were playing in."

Emma nodded and turned to watch Graham pull out of the parking lot and onto the deserted road. Killian reached for the radio and turned up the volume, so that the Rolling Stones were thundering through the Jeep, she turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

He shrugged, "What? I like this song."

She grinned and leaned back, putting her feet on the dashboard and humming along to herself.

"Aren't you going to sing for me again?"

She rolled her eyes, not even turning to look at him, "In your dreams, Jones."

"I told you the other day, you're always in my dreams, Swan."

She reached over to punch him in the arm, "Keep talking like that and that's the only time you'll see me."

They pulled into the parking lot of a large cream-colored building sitting on the edge of the rocky cliff, looking out over the ocean. The building had hints of old Irish architecture, laid into a modern design, and the result was stunning.

Emma jumped out of the Jeep and looked over at Ruby, who had an excited expression on her face, she grinned over at Graham before almost running over to Emma, "Can you believe this? He's taking us to Béllo! This place is impossible to get into!"

Emma gave her friend a bemused look, shrugging slightly, "Never heard of it."

Killian came up behind her, a mocking tone lacing his words "Well isn't Mr. Brewery just so fancy."

"Be nice!"

She pushed her elbow backwards until it made contact with his stomach, but he had clenched his muscles in anticipation, causing a tingling sensation to run up towards her shoulder when her elbow hit his hard stomach. She turned around and glared at him, rubbing her upper arm, "That wasn't fair!"

He beamed down at her, "What did I say, Swan? It's not nice to hit people."

She glared at him for a second longer before Graham walked up to them, "Ready?"

Ruby laced her arm through Emma's still tingling one and pulled her after Graham beaming, "Yes! I still can't believe you're taking us here."

They walked through the front doors and a pretty hostess smiled at Graham, "Hey Graham, how's it going?"

"Not too bad, how're things over here?"

She smiled and rolled her eyes, "How they always are, Regina's always freaking out about one thing or another."

He chuckled, "Yeah, I don't think that woman knows how to relax."

"I'll show you guys to your table."

He smiled and they followed her through a crowded room filled with cheerful conversation and the clinking of glasses and dishes. The woman pushed open a door that led out onto a large balcony, which was almost completely empty. There was a bar on the far left side and a large Tuscany style oven behind it. Vines with pale white flowers climbed the walls and the few beams that crossed overhead. There were small white lights that were strung throughout the vines, and a small white stucco wall on the very edge of the balcony, a blue fire running along it. Emma heard Ruby gasp in excitement as they sat down at one of the empty tables; a waitress came over with ridiculously expensive bottles of chardonnay and merlot. Emma raised her eyebrows in question to Graham, who grinned and shrugged, "I know a lot of people in the food industry."

Killian scoffed and Emma kicked him under the table, she let a small smile cross her face when she heard his grunt of pain.

Ruby reached up to touch one of the soft flowers on a pillar next to her, "This place is gorgeous, my roommate in Boston would love it here, she's getting her master's in architecture."

Killian lifted his eyebrows in question, "Mary Margaret? I thought she was doing interior design?"

Ruby shook her head, "She switched over to architecture our sophomore year."

"She still dating that _charming_ veterinarian?"

Ruby rolled her eyes, "Yes, and he actually is pretty charming, you know. You just don't see it because he doesn't like you."

Killian gave her a look of mock offence.

Emma grinned, "Oh, someone who doesn't like you? There's a shocker."

He returned the grin, "I may have come off as a bit cocky."

Ruby grinned, "You may have come off as someone who was hitting on his girlfriend."

He gave an innocent smile, his hands raising in defense, "I didn't know they were dating!"

Ruby rolled her eyes as a tall elegant woman, with dark black hair and a tight dark blue dress walked over to them, a bright smile on her face, "Graham! It's good to see you."

Graham smiled back, "Hey Regina, how are you?"

"Pretty good, stressed, but everything is going well."

Graham nodded to the three sitting with him, pointing to each in turn, "These are some friends from Dublin, this is Ruby, Emma and Killian. They're visiting for the weekend."

Regina smiled down at them, "It's very nice to meet you all."

Emma smiled back, "This is such a lovely restaurant, I love this balcony, everything is so breathtaking."

The woman returned a soft smile, "Thank you, I put everything I have into this, and it's nice to hear that from someone other than this one." She jerked her finger in Graham's direction and gave him a smile, "I should be going, I have a million things to do today, it was very lovely to meet you all."

They all gave her a small wave as she departed.

Emma glanced over at Graham, "Are you a supplier here then?"

He nodded, "She mostly serves more high end wine than beer, but she keeps a few of my high quality brews in stock."

"How long have you been supplying her for?"

"She was actually one of my first clients, so almost 8 years, I think."

Ruby turned to look over at him, "Is she American?"

"Yeah, she moved here after her fiancé died of a heart attack, I don't think she ever really got over it. I think she just kind of chose a place at random and moved there after it happened. I don't think she had much left in New York, she doesn't have any family left, at least none that she talks to."

Emma squirmed in her seat and her face became pale, the familiarity of that sentence made her feel extremely uneasy.

Killian glanced over at her, a concerned expression on his face, "You okay, love?"

She gave a weak smile and stood up, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just going to use the bathroom real fast."

She pushed out her chair and almost ran to the door, stepping inside and leaning against the wall for a minute before following the signs to the bathroom. She stepped inside and almost laughed, the room was nicer than her room at Granny's. It had a dark red couch leaning against the soft cream walls, the stalls were a ivory granite, encrusted with gold and the marble sinks had large plush towels to stacked high. She sat down on the couch and leaned her head back, breathing deeply. She heard the door opened and looked over to see Ruby enter.

"You okay?"

Her friend's face was softened with sadness, and she sat down next to her, wrapping her arm through Emma's.

Emma smiled, "Yeah, just got a little freaked out."

Ruby smiled softly, "Yeah, Killian and Graham were a little worried, so I told them I would come check on you."

"Did you tell them anything?" Emma had told Ruby about most of her past, but she wasn't sure how she felt about Killian and Graham knowing. She wasn't ashamed of who she was in the past, but people tended to pity her when they found out, Ruby and Granny being the wonderful exceptions.

Ruby shook her head, "Nah, I figured if you wanted them to know, you could tell them."

Emma smiled gratefully, "Thanks, Ruby."

Ruby smiled and hugged her tightly, "Anytime, Emma."

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys, I am so so so sorry that it took me this long to update, it's been a crazy month (working two jobs where everyone thinks you're their personal assistant is NOT a fun way to spend your summer, on top of taking three summer classes). ANYWAYS, I hope you guys like this, I finally have *some* idea where this story is going, so that's good! I'll try to update as soon as possible again, but life is still kind of crazy right now.**

**Your reviews are all so lovely, thank you so much for being so nice about this story, I love you all!**

**Also, thanks to both Anne and Liv for giving me some really great comments, I appreciate them more than you guys know!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own any of these characters, they belong to OUaT and ABC!**

* * *

Emma glanced in the mirror one last time, pinching her cheeks, attempting to add some semblance of color to her pale complexion. She sighed and turned to Ruby, nodding a silent agreement to go back out to the table. Ruby led Emma from the bathroom and back out to the table. Graham looked away politely, as they sat down awkwardly, but Killian leaned in, worry etched across his features. He glanced over at Ruby before turning back to her and asking in a hushed whisper, "Everything okay, love?"

Emma gave a weak smile and nodded silently before Ruby quickly started to discuss a new club that she heard was opening back in Dublin. Emma reached under the table and squeezed her hand in appreciation and Ruby responded with a quick smile before continuing on about the club. Their food arrived shortly after and the smell wafting off of the plates was intoxicating. Emma cut off a piece of the lamb on her plate and bit into it groaning in pleasure, she hadn't tasted anything like this in her life.

Killian smirked at her and raised his eyebrows suggestively. Emma glared at him, "Don't even say anything or I will stab this fork into your arm."

He raised his hands in defensive, "I wasn't going to say a thing. Just enjoying that tantalizing sound you just made."

A half hour later, Emma pushed her empty plate away from her as Regina walked out onto the balcony once more. She smiled over at them, "How was everything?"

Graham returned her smile, "It was really great, thanks Regina."

Regina beamed down at them, "You guys are welcome here anytime, it was lovely to meet you all."

Emma smiled up at her, "Thank you so much, it really was very good."

As Ruby and Graham stood up, discussing what they were going to do that afternoon, Regina sat down in a vacated seat and nodded in Emma's direction, "You and Ruby are from the states, right?"

Emma nodded, "Yeah, she's just visiting for the summer, she's going to school in Boston."

"And you?"

"I just needed a change from New York, there wasn't really anything left for me there, so I grabbed my stuff, saw that there was a flight leaving for Dublin, and hopped on it."

Regina gave her a small smile, "I know the feeling."

Emma returned the smile, but didn't elaborate on her reasons for leaving. Regina then asked with a twinkle in her eye, "And how is that decision working for you?"

"It's doing pretty good so far." She smiled over at Ruby and Graham, leaning against the railing, looking out at the crashing waves of the ocean. She felt something nudge her foot and looked over to see Killian prodding her foot like a child, a boyish grin on his face at her words. She rolled her eyes before teasing, "Then again, there are a few things I could live without here."

Killian grinned, "You couldn't live without me! Then who would you have around to irritate you? _Or_ save you when fall into the ocean?"

Regina lifted her eyebrows in question at this and Emma glared over at Killian, who was grinning like an idiot at her irritation. "I slipped on some rocks when I first got here and Killian thinks it's just so hilarious to tell everyone about it."

"Hey! I'm the hero here! I jumped into the freezing water to save you!"

Regina laughed lightly at their bickering before glancing at the watch on her wrist, and standing up, adjusting her dress, "Excuse me, I didn't realize it was getting so late, I have to go check on some things. Remember, you guys are welcome here anytime!"

Emma smiled, "Thanks, Regina. It was really nice to meet you."

They spent the afternoon walking through downtown, stopping at different shops to browse through the windows. The day passed quickly and they ate dinner at a small pub before Graham asked if they wanted to go to a club he supplied for. Before Emma or Killian opened their mouths Ruby let out an excited squeak and exclaimed, "YES!"

Graham turned to the other two, "You guys in?"

Killian gave a grunt of approval and Emma nodded, "Sure, sounds fun."

* * *

Graham pushed the door open and a wave of noise greeted their ears. The bar was packed full of people and loud music pounded through the sound system. Ruby beamed over at Graham, "How is it possible that you're friends with the owners of all the best places?"

Graham gave her a warm smile, "One of the perks of owning a brewery, everyone wants to be friends with you when you own a stockpile of alcohol."

They followed him through the crowded bar and to a small booth in the back, where they sat down and a waitress immediately came by to take their orders.

"Hey guys, what can I get-" the waitress with short red hair, baring the nametag Fiona suddenly stopped, her mouth agape and her eyes widening as she stared at Killian.

"You're….you're…you're Killian Jones!" she squealed in delight. "Oh my god, I just saw you and your band in Dublin a few nights ago and you lot were amazing!"

"Always nice to meet a fan and a lover of good music." Killian smiled lecherously at Fiona, causing Emma to roll her eyes. Of course Fiona lapped it up, leaning over on the table and giving Killian a good look at her cleavage.

"You know what I'd love? I'd love a glass of-" Emma began before she was interrupted.

"In a minute lass," Fiona brushed her off, not taking her eyes off of Killian. "Not everyday a woman gets to meet a rockstar."

"A rockstar?" scoffed Emma, her eyes rolling upward. "He fronts a garage band honey, not The Who."

"Who?" Questioned Fiona, a perplexed look on her face.

"'_The_ Who'," repeated Emma. "Classic Rock band circa 1964…Roger Daltrey, Pete Townsend, Keith Moon, John Entwistle, any of those names ring a bell?"

She threw her hands up in defeat upon realizing that the girl, who looked barely legal, had no idea which band she was talking about. Killian turned to smile at her in awe, his face lit of with a surprised delight. Emma blushed, shaking her head and hiding behind her hair in embarrassment. She felt Killian lean in towards her, and the vibrations from his deep rich chuckle and he whispered in her ear "You never stop surprising me do you, Swan?"

Before she could even respond to that, she noticed that Ruby had finally managed to get the attention of their waitress. Even more importantly, she took note of what Ruby was ordering – Tequila, in Emma's opinion the worst substance known to man.

"Hey! I didn't even get to order!" Emma pouted as Fiona walked away.

"You don't need to order because we're having Tequila and we're playing a drinking game." Declared Ruby, her voice oozing with mischief.

"NO!"

"Ahh, come on Swan, it's just a little game." Killian teased with a wink.

"I _hate_ drinking games."

"Why, they're not _that_ bad." Ruby argued.

"Because they always end with me doing something completely stupid or embarrassing."

Killian's grin widened, "All the more reason to play!"

She glared at him as Ruby begged her, "Please, Emma!" Ruby's big red lips formed a pout before Emma let out an irritated and exasperated, "_Fine_."

Killian let out a delighted laugh and gave Ruby a high five, causing Emma to immediately regret her decision.

Ruby let out a squeal of delight, "Ohh, what should we play then?"

Emma gave a halfhearted shrug and grabbed a few of the peanuts from a bowl at the center of the table. She absentmindedly tore the shells into small pieces as they all bickered over what to play. She stood up, making her way to the bar, not looking forward to the tequila that she knew was coming, and ordered a beer. She glanced back at the table to see Fiona stop by with a bottle of tequila and several shot glasses and groaned to herself. She was walking back over to the table where an excited Ruby was yelling, "What about, Never have I ever?!"

Emma sat down and looked over at her friend, "What are we, sixteen?"

Ruby glared over at her and crossed her arms in defiance.

"Ruby, there is no way in hell I'm playing that game."

Killian laughed and glanced over at her, "Afraid we'll find out all your dirty little secrets, Swan?"

Emma glared at him and let out an annoyed, "No."

She looked back over at Ruby, who didn't seem to get the hint that she really didn't want to play that game. Graham was completely oblivious to Emma's irritation and smiled over at Ruby, "Sounds fun."

Ruby beamed and turned to Killian, who threw a roguish smile in Emma's direction, "I'm down."

Emma gave Ruby one last glare, which was completely lost on her already tipsy friend before giving up, and settling back into the booth, irritation etched on her face.

Ruby sat up, grabbing her glass and pulling it closer, "I'll go first." She sat in contemplation for a minute, "Okay, I've got one. Never have I ever, been in a fist fight."

Killian grinned across the table at Ruby and took a large gulp of his rum.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Well there's a shocker."

Graham looked around when it was his turn, considering what he was going to say, "Ummm, never have I ever, been in love."

Emma glared at Ruby, who for the first time, seemed to realize what she'd done by suggesting this game, and returned an apologetic smile. Emma threw back a shot of tequila and quickly set down her empty shot glass, watching Killian do the same with his glass of rum. Killian glanced over at her with an appraising look in his eyes, "Oh, do tell."

Emma looked him straight in the eyes, "Ahh, but that's not part of the game, now is it?"

A cocky grin spread his face and he winked at her, "Yeah, but where's the fun in playing by the rules?"

They kept playing for another hour and their statements became more and more ridiculous. Finally an incredibly drunk Graham turned to Ruby when it was his turn, "I can't think of anymore things to say!"

Ruby giggled loudly, "I don't know, just think of something!"

He smiled at her and grinned, "Okay. Um, never have I ever, been arrested."

Emma felt the blood rush from her face and then all at once leave it completely, her stomach dropping. She watched in a weird trance as Killian smiled and took a giant swallow of his rum and started to tell them a story about public intoxication that involved quite a bit of nudity but everyone's voices sounded distant and muffled. She stood up and stumbled toward the exit, desperately seeking fresh air. She heard both Graham and Killian calling after her, but ignored them as she pushed the doors open and was met with the cool night air. She leaned against the wall and tilted her head back to look up at the stars through the tall buildings around her. For the second time today she had faced a brutal reminder of her not-so-happy past. She rubbed her hands over her face, trying to force the memories that were surfacing back down into the dark abyss she had kept them in. She faintly recognized that someone was standing next to her, but didn't remove her hands from her face, not yet ready to face reality.

She felt a strong hand on her shoulder and she jerked away from whoever it was, not wanting to be comforted. To her complete surprise she heard Graham's voice next to her, "You okay, Emma?"

She finally pulled her hands from her face to face him, her voice was flat when she answered, "Yeah, it's nothing, just needed some air."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Promise."

"Okay, you just seem really upset about something."

She shook her head, irritated that he was completely oblivious to the fact she didn't want to talk about it.

Graham nodded and gestured to the door but she shook her head once again, "I'm just gonna stay out here for a while longer, I'll see you inside."

He nodded but gave her a look of pity that just increased her irritation towards him.

She watched his back as he disappeared back into the bar and slid down the wall until she was sitting on the cold stone walkway, closing her eyes, as she let the cool wind blow against her face. A couple of minutes later she felt the warmth of someone slid down next to her. She kept her eyes closed and let out an irritated sigh, "I told you I'm fine. I'll be inside in a few minutes."

"Ahh, but you've told me no such thing, love."

She opened her eyes and turned to look at Killian's smiling face. She _really_ didn't want to talk to Killian right now, he had an unnatural ability of always knowing what she was thinking, "What do you want?"

"I'm just getting some air. Same as you, I presume."

At his words, she gave him a small, grateful smile. They sat in comfortable silence for a little bit until Emma gained control of her emotions, shutting the memories that had just surfaced away once more and stood up, looking down at Killian.

"Thanks."

He raised an eyebrow, "For what? I told you, I just needed some air."

She smiled and reached a hand down to help him up, he returned her smile brightly and grabbed her fingers. Emma tried to ignore the shot of electricity that shot up her arm at his touch and turned to the doors. Killian followed her back in, and they spotted Ruby telling Graham some ridiculous story that had them both in fits of laughter.

Emma groaned, not in the mood to be out anymore and turned to Killian, "Hey, I'm not really in the mood to stay here anymore, I'm just gonna take a cab back to the hotel, can you tell Ruby?"

He nodded and glanced over at the table where Ruby was still giggling like a teenager, "Do you want to see if she's ready to go? I'm actually don't really feel like staying out either."

Emma gave a shrug, "Sure, but I doubt she'll want to leave."

Killian walked over to the table and Emma turned to the exit once more, she pushed open the doors and made her way to the main street, waiting for a taxi to pass when Killian came to stand next to her, "She said that she's going to stay out with Graham for a while."

Emma nodded, "Yeah, I figured."

Emma saw the flash of a taxi and went to stick her arm out to signal it when a deafening whistle came from half a foot above her right ear.

She turned to look at Killian, "Jesus Christ, that was really fucking loud."

He grinned at her, the smile spreading to his eyes, "What can I say? I'm pretty good with my mouth."

She rolled her eyes and punched his arm, "Don't you ever get tired of making everything into an innuendo?"

He laughed and rubbed his bicep, "Nah. It makes life more fun."

A taxi pulled up in front of them and Emma slid in, leaning forward to give the driver the address of the hotel they were staying at for the night.

Emma turned to see Killian pull the door shut after he got in, "How is it you're the least drunk out of the three of us, yet you were the one that had to drink the most?"

He grinned, "I guess I can hold my alcohol pretty well. At least better than you three can."

He leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes, quietly whistling the tune to _Ten Years Gone_; Emma unconsciously smiled, realizing that he had chosen her favorite Led Zeppelin song. He opened his eyes and grinned over at her, "Aren't you gonna sing for me?"

She felt a flush creep up her cheeks, "Yeah, I don't sing in front of people."

He smiled at her words, "You sang in front of me once."

"Yes, but I thought you were asleep."

The taxi pulled up in front of their hotel and Emma reached into her pocket for money, but Killian was already handing the driver a couple bills. They walked up the flight of stairs to their floor and when she reached the door to the hotel room and internally groaned, remembering that Ruby had convinced her to let them all stay in the same room. _It'll save money, plus it'll be way more fun! _Emma pulled the hotel key out of her pocket and pushed open the door.

Killian followed her in and jumped onto the bed closest to her, lying on his back, his hands folded behind his head and watched her as she reached for her bag, tossing it on the opposite bed.

"You can always come cuddle with me tonight, if you get lonely."

Emma looked at him with a smirk on her face, "Yeah, in your dreams, Killian."

"You always are."

Emma snorted, "Do those lines ever actually work for you?"

He gave her a huge grin, "You'd be surprised."

"Probably not," she muttered, not realizing that she had spoken those words out loud until she heard Killian laugh.

She dismissed her comment, cursing the massive amounts of tequila that they had consumed earlier, she pointedly ignored him as she prepared herself for bed. She reached into her bag absentmindedly, looking for her toothbrush when a large sliver of glass cut through her palm. She sucked in her breath painfully and let out a low hiss as she pulled her hand quickly from the bag.

"Shit."

Killian looked over from where he was laying on the adjacent bed, "What's up?"

She closed her hand and shook her head slightly, "It's nothing, I just cut myself."

She started to walk over to the bathroom when Killian jumped up and pulled her wrist toward him, "Let me see."

Emma tried to pull away from his grip but his fingers held strong around her small wrist, "It's fine. I'll just wash it off and stick a band aid on it."

He raised his eyebrows in a look of skepticism and used his other hand to pull her fingers away from her palm, opening her hand gently so that blood rushed down over her palm and onto the fingers still wrapped around her wrist.

"You need stiches."

"Killian, I'm tired and cranky and I just want to go to bed, I'm not waiting at some emergency room for two hours so that some nurse can put two stitches in my hand."

He pulled her toward the bathroom and she reluctantly followed.

"Fine, if you won't get stitches, at least let me wrap it up. What'd you even cut it on?"

Emma groaned, "Ruby put some shot glasses in my bag and one of them must have broken."

He grabbed a first aid kit from under the sink and pulled out a large cotton gauze patch and placed it on the cut, pressing it down so that it soaked up the blood that was still running down her wrist. A sharp pain ran through her hand when the gauze touched the cut and she pulled her arm back in surprise. Killian reached for her wrist once more and held it tightly, wrapping medical tape around her hand, securing the gauze in place. He wrapped it a couple of times before he pulled her hand up slightly and bent his head, using his teeth to rip the tape from the dispenser. He gently rolled his thumb over the tape one last time with a strange tenderness that made Emma's stomach roll. She pulled her hand from his awkwardly, rubbing the bandaging with her good hand as he turned to the sink.

He turned on the sink and washed the blood from his hands, grabbing a washcloth and wetting it before holding out his hand once more, motioning for her to give him her bandaged hand.

"I can do this myself, you know."

He grinned, "But what kind of gentleman would I be if I let you."

She rolled her eyes and reluctantly stuck her hand out, letting his wipe the blood that had run down her wrist. She stood there, unsure of what to say, as he continued to gently wipe the blood from her arm.

"Thanks, I guess."

He just gave her a small smile but didn't say anything as he wiped the last bit off the side of her wrist. Emma realized how close they had been standing once he had set down the bloody washcloth; he was still gently holding her bandaged hand in his larger one and she could feel the heat radiating off his body.

They stood there looking at each other awkwardly when they heard the door to the room crash open. They both turned to look through the open bathroom door to see a very drunk Ruby being helped into the room by a slightly less drunk, but still incredibly tipsy Graham.

Ruby stumbled past the bed with Emma's bag in it and turned to see them standing in the bathroom, Killian still holding onto Emma's bandaged hand and let out a giggle before turning to Graham and letting out a slurred, "See what I mean?"

Killian grinned down at Emma with an obnoxious look in his eyes at Ruby's words and Emma pulled her hand from his quickly. She turned to watch Ruby stumble onto the bed, fully clothed and immediately shut her eyes.

Emma sighed as she turned to Graham, "Thanks for bringing her back, you can crash on the couch if you don't want to get a taxi home."

Graham smiled, "Thanks, but my place isn't too far from here."

Emma smiled, "Thanks again, we'll call you tomorrow before we leave, maybe we can get lunch?"

Graham grinned and nodded his head in Ruby's direction, "If she's not too hungover, sounds good."

Emma shut the door behind him and looked over at the bed that Ruby was sprawled across and sighed again, she walked over and attempted to push Ruby to one side, but Ruby let out a muffled groan and rolled back onto her stomach, still stretched across the entire bed. Emma gave a few more attempts that ended with Ruby giving her muffled curses.

Killian let out a bark of laughter and Emma turned to glare at him, "You move her, then."

He shrugged and gave her a devious grin, "Hey, she's not on my bed, it's not my fault that you agreed to share a bed with her."

Emma lifted an eyebrow and returned his grin, "If you're the gentleman that you always claim to be, you'd sleep on the floor and let me have your bed."

He lifted an eyebrow, "We could always share."

Emma let out of small laugh, "Yeah, that's not happening."

Killian continued to look at her with his eyebrows raised, "What, afraid you'll succumb to your desires and jump me in the night?"

"Aren't you just so hilarious."

He held her gaze, his grin spreading wider, "I'm pretty sure that you're just afraid of how much you want me."

Emma glared at him, she knew he was baiting her but she couldn't resist proving him wrong, "Fine, but don't even think about touching me."

His grinned widened and he held up his hands innocently, "I wouldn't dare."

Emma threw one last glare at Ruby, before climbing into bed and pulling the sheets up to her chest, crossing her arms across her chest defiantly, refusing to look at him.

"Goodnight, love."

She could hear the amusement in his voice and wanted to reach over and punch his arm again, but turned away from him, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

* * *

Emma woke to a warm presence surrounding her and she moved closer to the source of the warmth before realizing that it was a person, and then half a second later, who that person was. She sat bolt up right and turned to see a groggy but incredibly pleased Killian lying next to her. She glared down at him, "What the hell?!"

He reached up and teased his messy hair, "Hey, that was all you, darling."

She glared at him, "It was not! And where did your shirt go?!"

He leaned back on his pillow and shrugged, "I got hot last night. And all I'm saying is, I'm still on my side of the bed, and _you_ aren't."

She looked down to realize that he was right and jumped back, climbing backward out of bed as quickly as possible. She heard a door shut behind them and Ruby emerged from the bathroom, her long hair bedraggled and large bags under her eyes, she gave them a tired smile, "I see you two are up. You looked so cute all cuddled up together."

Emma glared at her before glancing at the clock on the bedside table that read 9:24 in large green numbers and tilting her head in surprise, "Why are you up? I didn't think we'd see you until sometime after noon."

Ruby groaned and lifted her fingers to her head, rubbing circles on her temple, "Apparently tequila doesn't sit very well with me when combined with copious amounts of beer and rum. This is the third time I've had to throw up this morning."

Emma grimaced at her words, "You need anything?"

Ruby shook her head slightly and fell back on the bed, shutting her eyes.

"Well, Graham wanted to get lunch today, if you're feeling up to it."

Ruby cracked an eye, "Mm, I think I'll be fine in a couple hours." She closed her eyes once more before adding in a strained voice, "Maybe we could make it a late lunch."

Emma smiled, "Yeah, sounds fine to me. I'll call him in a bit and let him know."

Ruby gave a noncommittal groan and pulled a pillow over her head.

"I'm gonna go take a shower then."

Ruby let out another muffled groan and Killian smirked, "Need any help?"

She grabbed a pillow that had fallen to the floor and threw it at him before turning to the bathroom and shutting the door behind her. She leaned against the door for a second, rubbing her forehead slightly. She turned on the water and stepped in letting the warm water ease the tension in her shoulders as she tried to comprehend what had happened the previous night. She hadn't shared a bed with anyone since Neal; it was strange, waking up next to a warm body again. _It was just habit, it doesn't mean anything._ Her subconscious was yelling contradictions to the statement she was repeating over and over in her head, but she pushed them away. _It doesn't mean anything. It was just out of habit._ She stepped out of the streaming water and pulled a towel from the shelf, wrapping it around her body before rubbing a circle of steam off of the mirror to look at her reflection. She pulled at the large blue circles under her eyes and groaned before pulling on her clothes and combing her fingers through her long hair. She pushed open the door to see Ruby sleeping once more, her arms curled around the pillow, tucking it against her body and the other bed deserted. She glanced around and didn't see Killian, so climbed back into the bed, promising herself she would only shut her eyes for a second.

Something pinched the bridge of her nose and she woke with a start, sitting up to see Killian leaning over her.

"Jesus Christ, what are you doing?"

"I'm bored. I went to go get coffee and when I came back you were both sleeping."

Emma laid back against the pillow, "And why did you have to wake me up? Ruby's literally three feet from me."

He grinned, "I figured she could use the sleep."

"_I_ could use the sleep!"

He held out a cup of coffee, steam was rising from the lid. Emma groaned and sat up, grabbing the coffee cup from him and taking a small sip. Warm chocolate with a hint of cinnamon spilled into her mouth and she looked up at him with surprise, her eyes narrowing, "How'd you know I like hot chocolate?"

He shrugged, "Lucky guess?"

She looked at him with skepticism etched across her features, "And the cinnamon, that was a lucky guess too, I suppose?"

He grinned at her but didn't answer.

Ruby woke up about two hours later and dragged herself into the bathroom, emerging a half hour later with wet hair, looking slightly less hungover. She grabbed her makeup bag, something that Emma still marveled at, and walked over to the vanity that was sitting next to the television. She sat down and glanced over her shoulder at where Emma and Killian were sitting against the headboard on the bed watching the television, "Are we still going to lunch?"

Emma nodded, "Yeah, I told Graham we could go around 1:00, so we should probably leave in like an hour."

Ruby nodded and started to apply her makeup, before glancing at the television, "What are you guys even watching?"

Emma attempted to grab the remote that was resting lightly in Killian's hand but he pulled it away before she could, "I don't even know. He won't let me change the channel."

He grinned over at her, "Just because you don't want to be educated on the inner workings of a dairy farm, doesn't mean I don't want to."

"Why do you care about the inner workings of a dairy farm?"

"I happen to like documentaries, I'll have you know."

"Yeah, so do I, when they're about something interesting!"

Emma reached for the remote again, but he still head it easily out of her reach, "You're so grabby, Swan."

She glared at him, "I wouldn't be if you would just let us watch something that wasn't ridiculous!"

Ruby rolled her eyes in the mirror, "Oh my god, you guys bicker like children."

He grinned and looked over at Emma, "If you can take the remote from me, I'll let you choose what we watch."

She folded her arms across her chest and ignored him, choosing to look back over to Ruby, "Feeling better?"

Ruby grinned, "Yep!"

Two hours later they left the small restaurant where they had met Graham for lunch. Emma turned to him and smiled, "Thanks for showing us around this weekend, I had a lot of fun."

Graham smiled at her, "Yeah, I had a lot of fun too."

Ruby pulled Graham into a tight hug, a shocked expression crossing his face before he pulled away and smiled, "Hanging out with you is hazardous to my liver, even if it was really fun."

Emma chuckled, "Yeah, tell me about it."

Ruby looked over at Emma, hands on her hips, "Hey, you wouldn't have any fun if it wasn't for me."

Emma smiled over at her friend, "Yeah, I guess that's probably true."

Killian's incredulous voice interrupted them, "Oi! I'm standing right here! I'm plenty of fun!"

Emma gave a short laugh, "You're _irritating_, there's a very big difference."

Ruby turned back to Graham, "You have to come visit us before I fly back to Boston! Promise?"

Graham nodded, "Yeah, I'll come by next weekend, I have a few shipments that need to be dropped off in Dublin anyway."

Ruby turned to Killian, "We better get going, I told Granny we'd be back for the dinner shift tonight."

Killian nodded and Emma turned to Graham, "Thanks again Graham, see you next weekend."

Emma climbed into the Jeep after Ruby and watched Killian as he walked around the front of the Jeep.

Ruby leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "Are we going to talk about whatever that was this morning?"

Emma turned around, her eyes flashing with a warning, "No. No we're not."

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys! Thanks so much for putting up with my terrible updating, I'm trying to get my shit together, I promise. First thank you so so much to Anne, who is my lovely beta, for adding in some super great stuff (like the interaction between Emma, Killian and the waitress, that was all her) and for editing for me! (:**

**Starsblazing: Thank you so much for the review! It made me smile like an idiot when you said it's like reading a YA novel. I tried to tone down the "love" thing, but I based it off of a friend of mine, who always calls his girlfriend that and I really like pet names lol.**

******Also, I googled Irish curse words and they were super funny but I couldn't add them in without making them sound super ridiculous because the only Irish person I know doesn't curse. But really, you guys should go google it, it made my day reading through them.**

**sn-46: I'm so glad that someone liked Killian's apartment! I want to live in one like that eventually (even though it's never going to happen), I don't know if any of you watch Orphan Black, but part of the design for it came from Felix's apartment, but I feel like Killian's would be larger and way less cluttered.**

**And thank you guys for such wonderful reviews, it literally makes my day. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! (:**


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own any of these characters, they belong to OUAT and ABC!**

* * *

Emma spun around slowly on the stool, waiting for Ruby to come downstairs. She saw a flash of bright red hair and grabbed the bar, stopping her spinning as Ruby sat down next to her, "I think I'm mostly finished packing."

Emma's mouth turned up slightly, "Mostly?"

Ruby grinned, "Okay, well I still might have a few things left, but it's really depressing!"

Emma laughed lightly, "I'll come up and help if you want."

"Really?" Emma turned to see Ruby beaming at her.

"Is it that bad?"

Ruby wrinkled her nose and gave Emma a guilty look, "Kind of."

The bell on the door rang softly and they glanced up as Graham walked in, smiling over at them. Ruby's hand shot up to wave him over, "Hey Graham!"

He walked over to them, "Hey guys, how're you doing?"

"Good!" Ruby smiled before she gave him an incredibly large pout, "But I'm leaving today."

Graham smiled at her exaggerated expression, "Already?"

"Yeah, I leave later this afternoon. What are you doing here?"

"I had some deliveries to drop off, but I finished early and came by to see if you were here. Do you guys want to get lunch?" He glanced over at Ruby, "If you have time, that is."

Ruby beamed, "Yeah, that sounds perfect!"

Graham nodded and sat down on other side of Emma and glanced at her, "Sound good to you, Emma?"

Emma smiled, "Yeah, I'm off for the rest of the day, so that sounds perfect."

Graham smiled over at Ruby, "Are you ready to be back at school?"

She groaned, "I guess? I mean, I'm really excited to see my friends again, and it's my last year, but at the same time, I'm really gonna miss it here, you know?"

He nodded his head, "Are you going to move here when you graduate?"

She sighed, "I'm not sure, I mean, it would be really great, but I still have a life back in Boston." She glanced over at Emma and smiled softly, "But then again, Emma's here, and I don't think I could only see her a couple times a year."

Emma smiled at Ruby's words, "Not that I'm biased or anything, but I think you should _definitely_ move here when you graduate."

Ruby laughed, "Yeah, yeah, not biased or anything. Anyway, you have Graham and Killian to keep you company until I come back in December."

Graham smiled and glanced over at Emma, "She's right, you and Killian can come visit me anytime."

"Thanks, maybe I will. I don't know if I can stand two hours in the car with Killian though, he can be incredibly irritating."

Ruby sighed, "You're the only one who thinks he's irritating."

Emma glanced over at her friend, "Maybe because I'm the only one he likes to irritate!"

Ruby's eyebrow shot up at her, "I wonder why that is."

Graham looked at Emma curiously, "Wait, I thought you guys were dating."

Ruby out a delighted giggle and Emma groaned, "Why does everyone think we're dating!?"

"Maybe because he's like totally into you?"

Emma rolled her eyes, "He's totally into women, not me."

Ruby pointed her fork at Emma, "All I'm saying is, this is the first summer that he came to Granny's on a _daily basis_. I've visited here every summer since I was two and we normally would only see each other every couple weeks."

Emma grumbled to herself and poked at her food, ignoring the look that Ruby was giving her.

* * *

They walked back into Granny's an hour later, and saw Killian leaning against the counter, talking to Granny as she wiped down the bar. He glanced up when they walked in and eyed the three of them as they walked over to them. Emma sat in the stool next to him and she felt him lean closer to her. She turned and raised an eyebrow at him but he ignored her.

"You know Killian, jealousy is not a very good look on you." Ruby smirked.

"I'm not jealous," Killian scoffs, leaning closer to Emma. "Do I have anything to be jealous of lass?"

Emma opened her mouth to make a flippant remark but made the mistake of looking into Killian's eyes, and that's when her words disappeared, getting lost in his mesmerizing blue gaze. She found her eyes drifting to his lips, and saw them begin to form a smirk. She broke out of her stupor and rolled her eyes.

"Do you really want to know the answer to that?" she smirked, pushing him away playfully and standing up, stepping slightly away from him.

Killian laughed, grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. He bent down and whispered in her ear, "Oh lass, I already know the answer to that."

Emma swallowed the lump that had just miraculously formed in her throat, and turned to Ruby without answering him, "We have to finish getting you packed."

Graham gave Ruby a warm hug, "Have a safe flight, and come visit whenever you come back. I have to get back to Wexford for a meeting this afternoon, so I'll see guys you later." He glanced over at Emma and Killian, who was still standing irritatingly close to her. Emma smiled and nodded and she heard Killian give a grunt of acknowledgment.

Ruby smiled, "Definitely."

He waved goodbye to Granny, shook Killian's hand and gave Emma a quick hug before leaving.

"He's such a sweet guy," sighed Ruby. "And he's hotter than hell too. I could definitely fall for a guy like that."

"He's nice enough I guess, but way too handsy." Killian grumbled.

"Since when was that a bad thing, right Emma?" Ruby taunted. Emma shrugged her shoulders but didn't comment, not wanting to get caught in the middle of their teasing.

"Aren't you leaving soon? Don't you have some packing to do?" he shot back.

"Come on Emma, let's leave Grumpy to brood by himself. Ruby laughed, taking Emma by the hand and dragging her upstairs.

Emma laid on Ruby's bed as Ruby packed up the last of her things, staring at the peeling yellow paint on the ceiling, "I still can't believe you're already leaving."

Ruby gave her a small smile, "It won't be too bad, and I'm coming back for Christmas! That's only a few months away."

Emma groaned, "A few months? What am I supposed to do while your gone?"

Ruby grinned over at her, her eyes twinkling with mischief as she shoved her curling iron into her carry-on, "You can always hang out with Killian."

Emma scrunched her face up at this, "God, I don't think I can deal with him without you there to keep me sane."

Ruby laughed lightly before answering, "I don't know, you two seemed pretty cozy when we were in Wexford."

Emma pulled the pillow from under her head and tossed it across the room at her friend, "I already told you, _nothing happened_."

Ruby ducked out of the way and picked up the pillow after it hit the wall and slid to the ground, tossing it lightly back on the bed, "I know you keeping _telling_ me that, that doesn't mean I completely believe you."

Emma sat up, pulling her legs over the edge of the bed, "Seriously though, I don't know what I'm going to do without you. You're the first real friend I've had since," she paused for a second, thinking back to grade school, "God knows when."

Ruby gave her an amused look before teasing; "Maybe you should spend the time working on your people skills then."

Emma smiled, scrunching her nose up slightly at her friend's words, "Yeah, yeah, I know."

Ruby glanced over at her as she shoved a couple more things into her suitcase, "Aren't you supposed to be helping me?"

Emma smiled and hopped up, grabbing the last couple of things on Ruby's desk as Granny's irritated voice call up to them, "You're going to be late if you don't hurry it up!"

Emma glanced at the clock that was sitting across the room, large red numbers blinking 2:18.

Ruby grinned and zipped up her bag, after throwing the last couple of things in it, "It leaves a little after four. Come on, Granny'll kill me if I miss it."

Emma grabbed the large suitcase that was lying next to the bed as Ruby picked up her purse and carry-on. They climbed down the stairs to see Killian leaning against the bar, laughing at something Granny was telling him. He looked up when he heard them enter and smiled over at Ruby, "I'm gonna miss you, Rubes."

Ruby grinned at his words, "Don't be getting all sentimental on me now."

Killian smirked over at her as he grabbed the large bag from Emma's hands, "Ready?"

Ruby glanced around a couple times, and checked her purse for what had to be the hundredth time for her passport and ticket, "Yeah, I think so."

* * *

Emma pulled Ruby into a tight hug, "I'm going to miss you so much. You better not forget about me!"

Ruby pulled back, but held onto Emma's shoulders tightly, and she grinned, but her eyes still had a hint of sadness in them, "Of course not! I'm going to miss you too." Her face lit up slightly at a thought, "But you could always visit! You could totally stay at my apartment, my roommate wouldn't mind at all!"

Emma smiled at this, "Yeah, maybe I will."

Ruby beamed at her words, "And Skype! Granny says that you can use her computer whenever, and I downloaded it already. Promise?"

Emma grinned and nodded her head slightly, "Promise."

Ruby turned to Killian a mock-stern expression on her face, "And you. You better come visit. You've been promising you will for the past five years!"

Killian grinned and held his hands up innocently, "I promise. For real this time, I'll drag this one with me." He nodded his head in Emma direction.

Ruby rolled her eyes, "I have a feeling it's gonna be the other way around."

Granny walked over to them from where she had been standing, examining the departure board, "You better get going Ruby, your flight leaves in 45 minutes."

Ruby pulled her into a tight hug, "Thanks Granny, I really do love visiting you."

Granny smiled before gave her a stern look, "Now don't get into any trouble, you hear me?"

Ruby grinned and nodded her head slightly before turning to Emma and pulling her into one last hug, "Take care of these two for me, alright?"

Emma nodded her head, "Sure thing, Ruby."

They watched as she walked over to the security line, turning to wave at them one last time before she handed her ticket to the TSA agent. Granny gave her granddaughter one last wave before she turned to Emma, "Come on, lass. We'd better get back."

Emma watched Ruby's streaked hair disappear into a line of passengers and turned, following Granny towards the exit.

The drive back to Granny's was oddly quiet, without Ruby's enthusiastic voice to entertain them, and Emma sighed softly to herself, realizing what a large part of her life, Ruby had become. She thought back to Graham's questions to Ruby about what she was going to do after she graduated and thought about what her own plans were. She definitely didn't want to go back to the states; she'd made more friends living here than she had had for almost her entire life.

Killian pulled up in front of Granny's and shifted the Jeep into park before turning to look over at her, "Mind if I borrow Emma for the rest of the day?"

Granny glanced back at Emma, who gave Killian incredulous look, "Hey! Isn't that something you should be asking me?"

Granny smiled at Emma's irritated expression, "I don't need her today, I've got the tables covered," she turned back to Killian, a stern look on her face, "_If _she wants to do something, it's alright with me."

Emma smiled at Granny's words as Killian turned to look back at her, "What do you say, love?"

She eyed him suspiciously, "What are we doing?"

He grinned, "It's better if I show you."

Her eyes narrowed slightly at his words and he laughed, "I promise you'll have fun."

She studied him for a second longer, contemplating his words, "Fine. But I swear to God if you do something like take me cliff diving again, I'm going to kill you."

His face lit up at her response, "I swear, it will be relatively stress-free."

They watched Granny climb out of the front seat and walk over to the pub, unlocking the door before turning to wave at them before disappearing into the open door.

Emma climbed over the seat and slid into the front, before looking at Killian expectantly, "Where exactly are we going?"

Killian ignored her, "I have to get something from my apartment, it shouldn't take too long."

Emma followed Killian through the large industrial sized door to his apartment and watched him climb up the stairs to his bed area. She walked over and sat down on the sofa, glancing out the window to the extraordinarily clear day outside before back over at Killian who was taking his shirt off. She rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but notice how attractive his muscles flexed as he pulled it over his head. He reached for a long sleeve that was lying on his bed and glanced over at Emma, who quickly looked away, but not before he had noticed.

"Enjoying the show Swan?" he chuckled, his deep, rich voice seeming to reverberate in her, causing a slight shiver. "With all the staring you're doing at my half naked body, I'm starting to feel a little violated."

"I'm sure you are Mr. Exhibitionist," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm surprised you haven't dropped your pants already."

"Is that a request Swan?" he winked at her.

"It is actually. A request to keep them on." She retorted.

"Oh Swan, you're just no fun." He said seriously before breaking into laughter, pulling on his long sleeve shirt and heading towards his closet.

Emma stood up and walked over to the bookcase spanning the opposite wall. She stood on her toes, fingering through the wall of records as Killian rummaged through his closet, she glanced over to see him stuffing various objects into a backpack. He called over to her, "How heavy is your jacket?"

She glanced down at the soft brown leather, tugging on it slightly, "I don't know, it's leather. Why?"

"Because I need to know."

She rolled her eyes at his response, before pulling out a worn record cover from the top shelf, "When did you start collecting these? There has to be hundreds here."

"My mum actually started collecting them when she was a teenager. She's the one who taught me about music and introduced me to classic rock."

Emma glanced over at the guitars resting in their stands against the windows, "Did she play guitar?"

"Nah, I made her sign me up for lessons when I was six; but she could sing, she had the most incredible voice. She used to sing old Irish hymns at night."

Emma smiled slightly, sliding the record back into its place before running her fingers over the edge of another, she heard his muffled voice from the closet, "What about you, were your parents big music fans?"

"Some of my foster parents were, there was one family I stayed with when I was 12 who were really big fans of punk rock. That's actually when I really started to listen to music, stuff like The Clash, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, The Violent Femmes, The Velvet Undergrounds." She smiled slightly to herself at the memory, "They had this really big, old phonograph that they would play their records on. But I didn't really start to listen to classic rock until I was 16."

She glanced up to see Killian standing next to his bed, looking at her with an odd expression on his face, "Foster parents?"

Emma raised an eyebrow at him, "You didn't know? I assumed Ruby had mentioned something about it."

He shook his head slightly, "I knew you didn't have any family left, I guess  
I just never real thought about if you had any when you were growing up."

She shrugged, "It's not a big deal, I got over it a long time ago."

A few minutes later, he jumped down the stairs leading up to his bed, and walked over to her, "Ready, Swan?"

She nodded and slid the spotless white album with small black words slightly off center back into its spot, "Yeah. Are you going to tell me what we're doing, now?"

He pulled on the heavy leather jacket he was holding and pushed her towards the door, his words were drawn out, as if talking to a child, "It's a _surprise_."

She rolled her eyes, despite the fact that he couldn't see, "How many times do I have to tell people? I. Hate. Surprises." She enunciated each word slowly, mimicking the tone he had just used towards her.

She could feel him grinning at her words behind her his hand warming the small of her back, "It's a good one. Promise."

Killian threw the large backpack into the back seat of his Jeep before climbing into the front, as Emma jumped into the passenger seat. She glanced over at Killian as he pulled out of the parking lot, "If you won't tell me what we're doing, will you at least tell me where we're going?"

His lips twitched up slightly, "Slieve Snaght Bogs."

His- incredibly Irish sounding- words took her by surprise, "What now?"

He let out a small chuckle before repeating himself in a slightly slower voice, "The Slieve Snaght Bogs."

"And what exactly is at the Sleeve Snaggle Bogs then?"

He grinned over at her still refusing to give her any indication of what they were doing, "Bogs."

They drove in comfortable silence, the radio softly playing for a couple of hours before Emma saw a large brown sign bearing the words 'Slieve Snaght Bogs: National Heritage Area'. They followed a narrow road up through rising cliffs, until they reached a deserted lookout point, that gave would probably have given an incredible view of the ocean if there had been more light.

Emma hopped out of the Jeep and glanced over to the edge, "What are we even doing here, it's too dark to even see anything."

Killian glanced over at her, an exasperated look on his face, "Will you just please just be _patient_?"

Emma crossed her arms defensively over her chest, irritated that she'd spent most of the day in the dark about what exactly they were doing. She'd never been a fan of surprises or secrets; she'd learned early in life that they often ended poorly for her. Killian tossed her a sandwich, and she eyed him warily as she unwrapped the plastic, biting into it.

Killian grabbed the large wool blanket that he kept draped over the back seat of his Jeep and threw it, rather unceremoniously, onto the ground, "Sit."

She glared at him, her irritation growing, "You can't just order me around and except me to obey you."

He turned to face her, placing his hands on her upper arms, taking her by surprise, "I promise, on my own bloody grave, that this will be worth it. Now please, sit down."

She sat down on the blanket, and felt the cold earth beneath her. Killian sat down next to her and she glanced over at him, hugging her jacket closer to herself, the cold breeze sending a chill down her spine and causing her goose bumps to rise up her arms, "Okay. Will you _please _tell me what we're doing here?"

He was opening his mouth, a look of annoyance flashing across his face at her never ending interrogation, but shut it a second later. He nodded his head towards something, a grin spreading over his face. Emma turned in the direction he had nodded, and the air escaped from her lungs all at once. The sky was painted with bright green, blue and purple streaks. They looked like they were floating on the wind, furling and unfurling gracefully. The Milky Way shown bright behind the colored floating lights, and the small crescent moon began to creep over the horizon as she watched. She felt Killian's eyes on her and turned to look at him, a bright smile finally spreading across her face, "How'd you know we'd be able to see them tonight?"

Killian's grin widened at this, "I wasn't actually sure if we would be able to see them tonight, to be honest. It's pretty lucky that we can," he turned to tease her, "you'd have been so mad at me if I brought you up here and nothing happened."

She reached over and punched his arm lightly, "You could have just told me what we were doing."

"I told you, it's something that you have to see."

She looked back up at the sky, mesmerized by the waving colors above her.

"When I was younger, I used to come up here with my family, we'd have picnics and I'd climb around on the rocks. One night, we were here really late for some reason, and as we were getting ready to go, I saw them for the first time. I didn't know what they were," he smiled slightly to himself, "My mum told me God was painting the night sky for us."

Emma glanced over at him, she had never been quite sure how to respond when someone shared such personal childhood memories, having none of her own to compare them to.

"Where is she?"

Killian shook his head slightly; ridding himself of the trance he was in, "My mum?"

Emma nodded silently and he sighed, a hint of sadness on his face, "She died when I was 17."

Emma looked down at her hands, unsure of how to respond once again, settling on a soft, "Oh."

His bright smile caught her eye and she was taken aback for a moment, "Well isn't this just a cheery conversation?"

Emma smiled softly, and spoke, almost to herself, "Yeah well, I've never really been a cheery person."

They sat staring, transfixed by the sky for what seemed like only minutes when Killian glanced down at his wrist, "Shit. It's almost one, we really need to get back."

Emma climbed into the Jeep, and pulled her legs up to her chest, hugging them towards herself, tiredness washing over her all at once. They had barely begun to move when she felt the weight of sleep bearing down on her. She closed her eyes- promising herself it would only be a second- and fell asleep almost instantly.

Emma started awake, disoriented for a minute before realizing that they were almost back in Dublin. She glanced over at Killian, rubbing her eyes slightly, "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep."

He grinned over at her, "You're terrible company in the car, you know."

She yawned and pulled her legs down, stretching her muscles slightly; "You could have just woken me up."

Emma reached into her jacket pocket, double-checking for her keys before remembering she had left them on the side table in Killian's apartment, "Shit."

Killian raised an eyebrow in question, "What's up?"

"I think I left my keys in your apartment."

He smiled, "Are you trying to get invited back to my place, Swan?"

She reached over and punched his arm, "In your dreams, Jones. Can we please stop and get them? Granny's probably locked up already."

He gave her an over exaggerated sigh before turning to grin at her, "I guess I can probably do that."

They climbed out of the Jeep and Killian rubbed the spot where she had punched him, "What is it with you and violence Swan? It's almost like you can't keep your hands off me."

"You got me all figured out," she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes to emphasize her point. "I just can't seem to resist you."

"I knew it," he smirked, bumping her shoulder with his. "I mean, it was obvious when you keep staring at me shirtless, and now your confession about expressing your desire for physical contact with me through shoulder punches. I must say, I'm not surprised that you like it rough, Swan."

"Oh shut up!" her hands shot out to push him. She noticed that when she reached out for his side he flinched, and ducked away from her. With a laugh and a mischievous smile she realized something very interesting.

"I don't believe it," she gasped. "You're ticklish!"

"Am not!" he scoffed, once again ducking out of Emma's reach when she aimed for his ribs.

"Liar!" she laughed, chasing him down the hall. She managed to catch up to him at his door, her hands targeting what she believed was Killian's vulnerable spot, tickling him mercilessly, backing him up against the door.

"Alright!" he called out squirming slightly, grabbing her by the wrists to stop her assault. "Stop! Please stop! I admit I'm ticklish, are you happy now?"

"It's a minor victory, but I'll take it." Emma replied smugly.

"I'd say it's a minor victory for me too," Killian shrugged, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly as he released her wrists. "I got to have your hands all over me."

"You never stop do you?" She sighed, trying to sound frustrated, but the smile creeping in at the corners of her lips ruined the effect.

"I have been known for my stamina." He teased; laughing heartily over the sour look she gave him as she headed towards his living room.

She grabbed the keys off the table and dangled them up for Killian to see, "Found them. I can walk back, if you don't want to drive me."

Killian rolled his eyes at her, "It's three in the morning, I'm not going to make you walk back in the dark."

Emma grinned, "Thanks."

His eyebrows raised in suggestion, "You could always just stay here, you know. You seemed to enjoy sleeping with me a couple weekends ago."

Emma slid the large steel door open, turning to glare over her shoulder at him as she stepped out of his apartment, only to run headlong into a very pretty girl with long, wavy jet-black hair and startling blue eyes. Emma stepped back slightly and looked at the girl, who couldn't have been more than 20, somewhat taken aback. She had a large black bag slung over her back and a battered guitar case in her right hand. She cocked her eyebrow in an eerily familiar fashion, "And who the bloody hell are you?"

* * *

**A/N: Ahhh, I tried to to update as fast as possible, because school starts next week and I don't know how frequent my updates are going to be! I started the next chapter before I finished this one (because there were parts of this chapter I wasn't 100% sure on), so it might be here _relatively_ soon, but I'm not sure!**

**So my wonderful beta helped me with some of this chapter and I'm forever grateful to her because she is so kind to me and my writing and gives me incredibly helpful ideas and suggestions!**

**Also, I'm like over here crying of happiness because over 100 of you lovely people have followed this story and I've never actually written anything before so this is immensely huge for me. On that note, I want to give a shout out to niniadepapa (whom I follow on tumblr) for inspiring me to write this, because she's literally one of the most supportive people of other people's writing that I have come across in any fandom especially considering how incredibly wonderful she writes.**

**Also, I love all your reviews so much and every time I read them, I literally sit at my computer and grin like a crazy person for like half an hour. **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: So I want to explain a few things that I have in my head, but I guess I never really put into actual words about this story, which I am very sorry for! **

**So first, Emma and Ruby are like 24-25, so Emma's not yet the age she is when the show starts (which puts Killian at like 27-28?). I wanted to write them when they were a little bit younger and not totally matured yet (but let's face I don't think super Killian's mature at the age he is now sometimes tbh).**

**Second, their backstories are slightly different from canon (Emma's will be explained in a couple chapters and Killian's is kind of explained in this chapter).**

* * *

"_And who the bloody hell are you?"_

Emma stared at the girl for a couple more seconds, disoriented, before opening her mouth and snapping, "Emma."

The girl gave her a charming smile, "Isn't it a little late to be visiting?"

Emma's confusion was replaced with fury, "Isn't it a little past your bedtime?"

The girl grinned at this, much to Emma's surprise. She glared at the girl and called over her shoulder, "Killian, you have a- _guest_."

Emma felt Killian's weight behind her and turned to look at him, raising her eyebrow in question. Killian's face was clouded with confusion until he saw whoever was on the other side of the door. His face split into a huge grin and he pushed past Emma to wrap the girl in a tight hug, causing her guitar case to drop to the ground as she hugged him back.

Emma stood there for a moment, slightly taken aback at what had just unfolded in front of her; she glanced around awkwardly as Killian lifted up the girl before setting her on her feet and grabbing the guitar case that had dropped to the ground, "What the hell are you doing here? It's three in the morning."

The girl's face split into a wide grin, "My plane got delayed in Germany for a couple of hours, I was supposed to get in around 9:00 last night."

Killian's eyebrow raised in question, "You didn't tell me you were coming back."

Emma stepped awkwardly behind Killian, attempting to get past the two people who were standing in the doorway, obviously oblivious to her presence. She had just decided to walk home and get away from whatever was happening in front of her when Killian grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, "And just where do you think you're going?"

"I haven't interrupted your little sleepover have I?" asked Ciara, tilting her head and crossing her arms over her chest, seemingly amused by whatever was going on between Emma and Killian.

Emma raised an eyebrow at her incredulously, " You didn't interrupt anything. I just forgot my keys here, I got them and now I'm going home." She turned to Killian, her face still slightly red with anger, "It's three in the morning, as you've just pointed out. And I don't want to interrupt whatever this is." She gestured between the two people in front of her before attempting to get past them once more.

He grabbed her keys from her hand and held them away from her, "And, _as I've just pointed out_, you can't walk home at three in the morning."

Emma reached for them, but he held them higher, just out of her grasp and she glared at him, crossing her arms across her chest.

The girl surveyed Emma with an appraising eye, a grin playing on her lips, "Not your usual type, Killian."

Emma turned to glare at the girl and opened her mouth to snap back a retort when Killian's laughter caught her off guard, "Swan and I are just friends," he looked over at her with a similar appraising glance. "For now."

"Who says you and I are friends Jones?" she shot back.

"So, we're more than friends?" he chuckled.

"I always knew you were an ass, but flirting with me in front of another girl is pretty appalling." She snarled. She was annoyed with his attitude and irritated at the fact that she was actually upset because a girl was at his door.

"Hold on there Swan-" Killian held out his hands either as a sign of surrender or to halt the ideas that were racing through her head and being spat out at him.

The girl gave Killian a look of mock outrage, "You haven't told your friends about me, dear brother?"

Emma's mouth fell open and the anger that had been coloring her face red was replaced by embarrassment, "Brother?"

Killian grinned over at her before gesturing to the girl, "This, my dear Emma, is my lovely sister."

Emma stood for a moment, searching her brain for a mention of a sister, but none came to mind. She stood there, trying to wrap her head around this new piece of information when the girl stuck her hand out for Emma to shake, "Ciara Jones."

Emma took it, "Nice to meet you, Emma Swan." Emma then turned to Killian, surprise still evident on her face, as well as no small amount of embarrassment at the way she had just acted. "I didn't know you had a sister."

Ciara glared over at him, "Oi! You keeping me a secret or something?"

Killian gave them both a look of innocence, "Well, maybe I would talk about you more if you'd come visit me more than once a year."

Emma's brow furrowed, "You don't live here?"

Ciara smiled, "Nah. I moved away when I was sixteen, much to this arsehole's displeasure."

Killian's face softened slightly, a hint of sadness present, "You packed up and moved away in the night without so much as a warning. Course I was going to be angry."

Ciara grinned and bumped shoulders with him as she ventured further into the apartment dropping her bag on the floor with a loud thud, "As much as I'm enjoying this reunion, I'm a little tired, so how about we postpone this until morning?"

Killian grinned as he set her guitar case next to her bag, "Yeah, I have to bring her back over to Granny's anyway." He nodded in Emma's direction and Ciara glanced over at her.

"You staying at Granny's, then?"

Emma nodded slightly, "Working there, actually."

Ciara smiled, "Well, it was nice to meet you, Emma. See you around?"

Killian grabbed the keys that were lying on the kitchen counter and turned to Ciara, "There's some blankets in those cabinet over there, you can sleep _on the couch_."

Ciara grinned a slightly mischievous look on her face, "Sure thing."

He rolled his eyes and pushed Emma towards the door.

The short drive to Granny's was silent and Emma's mind was racing with questions. He'd never mentioned a sister, even when he talked about his childhood on rare equations. She hadn't noticed where they were headed until Killian pulled the Jeep in front of Granny's and shifted into park. Emma glanced over at him, "So a sister, huh?"

He grinned, "Yeah, Ciara's a bit of a firecracker, we didn't get along so great after our mum died, but we're a lot closer now."

Emma smiled and reached for the door, "Thanks for the ride. And I guess tonight wasn't totally horrible."

Killian's face lit up with a bright smile, "My, my, Swan, that was almost something nice. I think you may be going soft."

She reached over and punched his arm, ignoring his teasing, "Whatever. Night, Killian."

She opened the door and jumped out and looked around curiously when she heard Killian's door shut as well.

"What are you doing?" she asked, slightly exasperated.

He grinned over at her, "What does it look like? I'm being a gentleman."

She raised her eyebrows at him and crossed her arms across her chest.

He sighed, "I'm walking you to the door."

She rolled her eyes and turned the keys in the lock before leaning against the open door jam, "Right. Keep forgetting that."

"I am a gentleman Swan," he murmured, "And I'll keep reminding you until you remember it." He leaned closer to her, his gaze locking on hers as he lifted his hand from his side towards her as it ghosted along her leg, to her hip, to…the keys that she was about to forget in the lock.

"Don't wanna forget these again." He teased, an amused smile on his lips. "Or was this your way of having me deliver your keys to your room."

"No, it was my way of saying I'm way too tired to deal with you right now." She retorted and turned slightly, breaking eye contact.

"Goodnight, Emma." He murmured, gently brushing aside an errant strand of her hair and tucking it behind her ear. Killian gave her a genuine smile before heading back to his jeep. She actually watched him leave before closing the door and locking up.

The next few days passed uneventfully, Killian was noticeably absent and Ruby's return to the United States left Emma feeling exceptionally melancholy, especially when she remembered her least favorite day of the year was coming up.

* * *

Emma awoke on Friday and groaned glancing at the clock next to her before pulling the covers over her head, refusing to let the sunlight streaming through the window to penetrate through. She was not looking forward to working all day, but one of the other waitresses had called in sick the day before, so Emma was working both the lunch and dinner shifts. She sighed and climbed out of bed, dragging herself over to the closet and grabbing her usual outfit of jeans and a tank top before pulling on her favorite pair of boots. She climbed down the stairs and saw Granny wiping down the tables. Emma made her way over to her, "I can do this if you want."

Granny glanced up at her and smiled, "It's fine, dear. Go get something to eat, I left some breakfast on the stove in back."

The pub was eerily empty, and Emma moved through her tables, taking orders from the few customers present and periodically filling their drinks.

Granny smiled over at her, "You know, you can take a break, love."

Emma smiled, "Thanks, Granny. I don't want you to have to cover for me though."

Granny gave her an considering look, "Hmm, well, it's dead today and I know Ruby did say she wanted to Skype you sometime today, and seeing as you've been working for the past 5 hours straight, I think you could use a little break."

Emma glanced up at Granny, "Are you sure?"

Granny reached under the bar and pulled out the laptop that she used for accounting, handing it over to Emma.

Emma smiled over at her before grabbing the computer and sitting on one of the deserted stools on the far end of the bar.

Ruby's face popped on the screen and Emma grinned, "Hey, Ruby."

Ruby glanced up from the cereal she was eating and smiled, "Hey, Emma!"

"So how's Boston?"

Ruby rolled her eyes, "Ugh, terribly boring, my roommate is still in Maine visiting some friends, so I'm by myself for the next couple of days." She looked down into her bowl, and pushed the contents around with her spoon before setting it down with a slightly disgusted look on her face, "Anyway, how's everyone back there?"

"They're good, I guess. I think Granny misses you already though. And I miss you so much, it's so quiet without out you here!"

Emma paused for a second, "Hey- um, did you know that Killian has a sister?"

Ruby nodded her head, "Yeah, Ciara. I think she lives in Spain now," She paused for a second, contemplating something and smiled slightly, "Or was it Italy? I don't really know, that girl never stays in the same place for very long."

"Well she's in town now."

Ruby sat up on her bed and pulled her computer screen back slightly, "Ciara came back and I missed her?!"

Emma smiled at Ruby's incredulous tone, "Yeah, she got in the night- well I guess, morning after you left."

Ruby sighed in irritation, "Of course she did. Do you know how long she's staying?"

Emma shook her head slightly and sighed, "Nah, I just meet her for a couple of minutes the day she came in, and Killian hasn't come by in the past couple days."

It had been eerily quiet since the night he had dropped her off. With Ruby and Killian both absent, Emma had found herself with an extraordinarily large amount of free time. She also found herself incredibly irritated at the fact that she actually missed him coming around.

Ruby's voice cut through Emma's musing, "Yeah, she normally only stays for a couple of weeks at the most, so I think he likes to do as much with her as he can."

Emma's face scrunched slightly, "It's just really quiet around here without you two."

Ruby grinned knowingly through the screen at her, "I'm sure he'll be back to annoying you in a few days."

Emma laughed lightly, "God, I hope not."

Emma heard a bright laugh behind her and turned to see Ciara and Killian walking over to her, Ciara's amusement was shining on her face at Emma's words and Killian sat down next to her, "Oh Swan, miss me already?"

Emma rolled her eyes, "Oh yes, the lack of your irritating presence these last couple days has just been excruciating."

Killian leaned across her to see the computer screen, "Hey Ruby, miss me yet?"

Ruby laughed lightly, "Yes! It's terrible here, you guys need to come and visit!"

Emma leaned back slightly and swatted his shoulder, "Ever heard of personal space?"

He leaned into her more, but otherwise didn't respond, "You missed my dear sister's return, she was pretty upset to hear you left a few hours before she got in."

Ciara walked around Emma so that she could see the screen from Emma's other side, "Hey Ruby!"

Ruby let out a small scream at Ciara's voice, "Ciara, I can't believe you got there the day after I left! I haven't seen you in like two years!"

Ciara sat down on the stool next to Emma and smiled over at the computer, shaking her head slightly, "I'd have come in a bit sooner if I'd known you'd be leaving."

Ruby gave her an exaggerated sigh, before smiling, "How long are you planning on staying then?"

Ciara glanced over at Killian, "I'm not sure, depends on how long Killian will let me crash at his place."

Killian rolled his eyes at his sister, "I already told you that you can stay as long as you like."

Ciara returned the eye roll, "Yes, well two people living in a one bedroom apartment for a long period of time is potentially problematic."

"Yeah, for me maybe. You're cramping my style."

Emma rolled her eyes, "What style?"

"I have plenty of style Swan, don't pretend you haven't noticed." Killian teased. "You've been staring at me for too long lately not to have noticed."

"I've noticed that you are full of yourself." Emma retorted. "And that you're annoying and arrogant-"

"Why do you insist on fighting your attraction to me Swan," huffed Killian as if she exasperated him.

"You wish buddy," she laughed dismissively. "You're projecting. You're the one who's 'mad' about me, so you pretend it's the other way around."

"I've never denied it." He replied, his gaze intensifying and locking on to hers. Suddenly, her thoughts became hazy, fading away under the heat of his bright blue eyes.

"Do they do this often?" asked Ciara, keeping Ruby company on Granny's laptop.

"All the time." Ruby laughed.

"And they're not shagging?" Ciara wondered aloud, grabbing a glass from behind the counter and reaching for the beer taps.

"Hands off the booze Ciara!" Granny bellowed from somewhere in the kitchen.

Startled by the elder woman's apparent omnipotence, she backed off, muttering, "She's still as scary as I remember."

"You'd do well to keep that in mind around my bar, child!" yelled Granny, a chuckle in her voice.

Killian glanced over at her, "So, Swan. Doing anything special today?"

She straightened up and looked over at him slightly alarmed, "What? Nothing! Wait, what?"

He glanced over at her a slightly bemused expression on his face, "You alright there, love?"

Her face burned slightly and she glanced away before mumbling, "Yeah, fine."

Ciara stood up and walked over to Killian, "Ready to go?"

He jumped up off the stool and grabbed Emma's arm, "C'mon, we're leaving."

She pulled out of his grasp, "I have to work! And I'm still talking to Ruby!" She glanced over at the screen but Ruby had signed off.

He reached for her arm once more, and steered her in front of him and towards the door, "No you don't."

She turned around and stared at him, incredulously, "I do!"

Emma glanced around at Granny, who had emerged from the kitchen and was waving goodbye to them energetically, "See you all in a bit."

She looked around at Killian, "What are you doing, Jones."

"Patience, Emma. You'll see."

Ciara and Killian pushed Emma into the passenger seat of Killian's Jeep and she looked around, a sinking feeling in her stomach as he turned the key and rolled the engine.

"There have been too many surprises in my life recently, so you two better tell me what the hell is going on or I swear to God I will jump out of this Jeep."

Ciara laughed lightly from the back seat and Killian glanced over at her, "We're going to my apartment."

She eyed him suspiciously, "Why?"

"Reasons."

"Dammit, Killian! I _hate_ surprises!"

He grinned over at her cheekily, "If I call correctly, you didn't hate my last surprise."

Her cheeks burned slightly and Ciara called up from the back seat, "You two are totally shagging. _I knew it!_"

Emma's flamed cheeks grew brighter, "We are not!"

Emma glanced out the window to realize that they were not in fact headed to Killian's apartment, but the opposite direction, out of town.

She turned to him, "Where the fuck are we going?"

He didn't look at her, but continued to watch the road, "Hmm?"

"Killian fucking Jones, I am not in the mood for your shit today."

He just shrugged and she glared over at him before switching tactics and turning in her seat to look back where Ciara sat, watching their bickering with amusement, "Ciara. You tell me where we're going. _Right now_."

She shrugged her shoulders and gave Emma an apologetic look, "I dunno, to be honest, I'm terrible at keeping secrets, so he doesn't tell me anything."

She watched Ciara's face for signs of dishonesty and turned around, slightly less irritated when all she could detect was the truth.

The drove in irritated silence- well, Emma was irritated, Ciara was amused and Killian was unreadable- until they left the city limits and Emma realized that they were heading for Wexford.

"Are we going to Wexford?"

Killian shrugged, but the corner of his mouth tipped up slightly.

Two slightly less irritated hours later they pulled into the parking lot of Regina's restaurant. Emma rolled her eyes and looked over at Killian, "You kidnapped me and lied to me so that we could drive two hours for food?"

He gave her another infuriating shrug and she begrudgingly followed the siblings through the front door. The hostess looked up when they entered and squealed delightedly, "Oh! You're with Graham, right?"

Killian nodded and Emma turned to him, an eyebrow raised, "Graham's in on this too?"

He smiled, "You'll see in a second, Swan."

They climbed the stairs to the main restaurant, but before Emma could catch sight of wherever Graham was, Ciara pushed her towards the bathroom.

Emma looked around incredulously, "What are you doing?"

Ciara gave her an apologetic look and scrunched up her face in sympathy, "Ruby made me promise."

Emma eyed her suspiciously as they entered the elegant bathroom, "Made you promise what exactly."

Ciara grabbed a garment bag that was lying on the small couch and pushed in into Emma's hands, "Made me promise that I would make you wear this."

Emma raised her eyebrows as she unzipped the top and peaked in. There was a skintight red dress inside.

"Oh, no. I'm not wearing that."

Ciara grinned, "Ruby will come back and kill me and then kill you if you don't."

"She'll never know."

Ciara raised an eyebrow in Emma's direction, "Do you really believe that?"

Emma groaned and grabbed the dress.

Ten minutes later, Ciara and Emma exited the bathroom, to where Killian was waiting, a bored expression on his face until he saw them. His face went slightly pale, and he stared at Emma, who fidgeted nervously, pulling at the hem of the red dress. He kept staring at her, and his mouth opened slightly, but no words escaped.

She watched him nervously before hissing, "What?!"

He swallowed slightly before muttering, "Nothing."

Ciara laughed, "God, Killian, could you drool any more?"

He glared over at her and pushed her towards the door leading to the balcony that they had eaten on only a couple of weeks ago. They walked through it and Emma noticed that everything was different. The tables had been rearranged and pushed all to one side of the deck, the lights that had been wound around the pillars and the terraces were lit so that they dazzled brightly in the setting sun and white roses had been planted in every single possible area they could be planted. Graham was sitting at a table talking to a giant television screen with Ruby's face on it. Ruby saw them walk onto the balcony and she squealed brightly, "Emma! I can't believe they got you to come!"

Emma rolled her eyes, "It was well against my wishes, believe me. Now, will someone tell me what the fuck is going on?"

Graham smiled apologetically over at her and gave her a small wave.

Ruby smiled, "You look hot, Emma! I wish I was there!"

Emma rolled her eyes, and blushed slightly, pulling at the hem once more.

The door behind them opened and Regina and Granny walked through, much to Emma's confusion.

"Granny?!"

Granny smiled, "You didn't think I'd miss your birthday, did you, love?"

Emma's stomach dropped and she looked around at the people around her who were all beaming in her direction.

She felt slightly nauseous, "Wh- How did you guys know?"

Ruby laughed from the television screen, "I have my ways. Also, you shouldn't leave your passport out for anyone to look through."

She glared at the screen before adding a bemused, "I'm going to kill you, you know."

"That will require a visit to Boston, which I am all for, by the way."

Regina had arranged a ridiculously extravagant meal that was followed by a massive German chocolate cake. They all ate and talked happily, and for one of the first times in Emma's life she enjoyed her birthday. Graham was dancing with Regina, and Killian with Granny on the empty part of the balcony to music that was erupting from hidden speakers when Ciara came over to sit next to Emma.

"You're okay Swan." Chuckled Ciara, taking a swig from her beer.

"Uh, thanks…I think." Emma smiled over at her.

"I guess I'm just used to all the Barbies that fawn all over my brother," Ciara shrugged. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you, but they don't like Killian for Killian. They just want to be seen with a guy in a band. Usually all he has to do is flash a grin and they're lining up around the corner, fighting each other for a chance to get in his pants. But you, you make him work for your attention. You're different, and with you he's different. It's nice to see him with someone who's not after fame."

"Ciara, " Emma sighed. She liked the kid, but she wasn't going to put up with more attempts to match her and Killian, no matter how well intentioned the efforts are.

"I know, you're friends and only friends," Ciara cut her off, anticipating what Emma was about to say. "But he likes you, really likes you. I can tell. Just do me a favor and don't hurt him. He pretends he's a tough guy, but he's been through a lot. He deserves to be happy, and around you he is."

Emma shifted uncomfortably in her seat, unsure of what to say, "Er- well, I mean-", but before she could sputter out a response Killian walked up and held out a hand.

"Care to dance, Swan?"

Emma shook her head, "Oh, no. I don't dance."

He grinned and grabbed her fingers, pulling her towards the makeshift dance floor, "Come on, I'll lead."

She resisted slightly, "Seriously Killian, I'm a terrible dancer."

He grinned, "Well that's just not true. I've seen you dance before."

She eyed him suspiciously, "You have not."

He grinned, "I have, if you remember correctly, you danced quite mesmerizingly at the first show you went to of mine."

She rolled her eyes, "You were on stage, there is no way you could have seen me."

He smiled at her but didn't respond and she realized that he had successfully pulled her all the way across the balcony and had wrapped an arm around her waist. She glared up at him, "That wasn't fair."

He smiled down at her, "When I have been one to play by the rules?"

She laughed despite herself and let him twirl her across the makeshift dance floor.

"So, was it a tolerable birthday?"

She sighed slightly, "I guess it was alright."

He laughed brightly, "Oh Swan, you and your glowing words of praise."

"This better be the last time you put me in the car _for multiple hours_ without telling me what we're doing."

He smiled down at her, "Only on special occasions."

She smiled in spite of herself and allowed him to spin her around once more.

* * *

**Hey guys! I am so so so so sorry that it took me this long to update, this semester has been kind of insane. So, I'm going to try to get out the next chapter in the next month or so (I know, I know, that's a really long time) but I have so many things to do right now for school and work :(**

**I hope you guys liked this chapter! I wrote it kind of quickly, but I want to thank my lovely beta Anne for adding amazing suggestions, as always! (:**

**Reviews and Suggestions are always welcome(and they make me feel stupidly happy when you guys leave them)!**


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